CHURCHILL Meadow residents were left angry and inconvenienced after a dustbin lorry drove up a private drive and shattered a manhole cover into the bargain.

Residents had to cover the yawning hazard with pasteboard, to stop children, the elderly or animals falling through the hole.

And they claim that the Herefordshire Council contractor, FCC Environment, asked them to come up with a quote, before any repairs could be considered.

The private drive is used by several families.

Churchill Meadow resident, Lisa White said: "The manhole cover was destroyed by the dustbin lorry collecting the wheelie bins. The cover is 12yards from the highway and this is on a private drive.

"They left this in an unsafe condition which is temporarily covered by a pasteboard that residents have had to find, as the binmen just left it."

She added that "FCC Environment requires the householders to obtain quotes for repair and forward to them before repair can be considered.

"In the meantime the cover is unsafe and dangerous to the local young children of the road the elderly and all the animals. The drive way is also not accessible to emergency vehicles. There is no lighting up this road at night either so anybody could trip and fall over, and it could also damage cars."

The damage was caused during the collection on Thursday, August 13.

This week, FCC Environment said it would inspect the damage with a view to putting it right by the end of the week.

A FCC Environment spokesman said: "We have employed a contractor to assess the damage at Churchill Meadow with a view to performing a permanent repair to the manhole cover before the end of the week.

"FCC Environment apologises for the inconvenience that has been caused to residents.”