A MAJOR incident has been declared in Birmingham as 17,000 tonnes of rubbish have been left strewn across street.
Birmingham City Council has declared a major incident over the bin strike and said that picket lines blocking its depots are preventing waste vehicles from collecting rubbish.
Birmingham has declared a major incident over the bin strike©2025 Tom Bowles
Rubbish has been piling up along streets©2025 Tom Bowles
This comes as members of the Unite union in Birmingham have been holding an all-out strike which has led to rubbish piling up in the streets.
The council says daily blocking of its depots by pickets has meant workers cannot get their vehicles out to collect waste from residents and declaring a major incident will initially increase the availability of street cleansing and fly-tip removal with an additional 35 vehicles and crews around the city.
The major incident will also allow the council to explore what further support is available from neighbouring authorities and the Government to assist in the management of the situation.
Council leader John Cotton said: “It’s regrettable that we have had to take this step but we cannot tolerate a situation that is causing harm and distress to communities across Birmingham.”
Earlier this month, rats the size of cats were reported in the area, as residents complained you can’t turn a corner without tripping over heaps of waste.
Huge rats plaguing rubbish-riddled Birmingham amidst the bin worker’s strike have been terrifying locals as the industrial action, which started early this year, continues.
The clash between waste collector’s union Unite and Birmingham City Council over the scrapping of a “safety-critical role” and pay cuts has led to indefinite strikes.
Overflowing bins have caused utter carnage, with chaos set to “worsen”, taxi drivers are warning.
As residents, workers and shoppers have been desperately trying to avoid the vermin-hit streets, cabbie Abid Hussain said: “The garbage is piling up, the vermin are coming out. It is disgusting!
“The city is filthy, it stinks. It is a health issue and the situation will only get worse.”
The driver of 32 years slammed authorities for allowing Britain’s second biggest city to “go to the rats.”
Abid, speaking exclusively to The Sun, sighed: “It should never have come to this. People are terrified to come out.
“No one wants to see rats scurrying around all the un-emptied bins and the rubbish dumped in streets, alleyways and gardens.
“It is a terrible advert for the city where I have worked for more than three decades. I am a barometer for Birmingham and this is the worst it gets.”
Abid spoke out as the cash-strapped Labour City Council is battling with bin workers to end their series of strikes over a pay dispute and conditions.
Rodents likened to be “the size of cats” have been sighted by residents scurrying around vast piles of garbage that have built up since the start of the year.
Nearly 400 bin workers in the busy West Midlands city have been striking intermittently since January in the escalating row between bin collectors and the council.
Overflowing bins across Birmingham©2025 Tom Bowles Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
