Being a refuse collector has always been regarded as something of an unpleasant job. However, somebody has to do it and these days it is relatively well paid. Unfortunately, though, in Bradford the collection service singularly fails to achieve the sort of standards of customer care that the council taxpayers have a right to expect.

The job has been made increasingly easy for the binmen. No longer do they deal with piles of old newspapers, old clothes, glass bottles, garden refuse or large and bulky items. Now, if you don't take them to a tip or recycling bank yourself, the chances are that they will never be moved.

Binmen no longer have to walk up and down drives to collect bins. The council taxpayers do that for them. They only have to hook the wheelie bin on the back of the truck and let the machinery do the job. They won't even empty a bin if it has been placed a few yards from where they think it should be.

No wonder, then, that they have got into the habit of knocking off early, thereby robbing the council taxpayers of thousands of pounds a year for hours they don't put in.

It's little short of a scandal that we have been paying all this time for an early finish. The Council is absolutely right to want to redress a situation which would not be tolerated in any commercial organisation.

If the binmen can do the job in less time than is allocated to them, either we need fewer binmen or their spare time should be taken up with other duties.