Bob the Tin Man gets canned by Council
Bob's Bins
Kind-hearted Bob Perry only wanted to help gather up a few bucks for local charities in the Cow Bay area where he lives, but in doing so has fallen foul of the law.
Well at least the lawmakers at the Douglas Shire Council, who he’s accused of removing his property and through their actions taking much needed dollars away from deserving charities.
Bob is the local motor mechanic in Cow Bay, in fact they call him Mr RACQ, he’s also the local gas cylinder guy but reckons the Douglas Shire Council is the one full of hot air.
He claims that with permission from the manager on site, he set up three blue bins at the local Council Transfer Station to collect aluminium cans and bottles for a nearby Medical Centre and the local Alexandra Bay State School.
The idea is for him to convert them into cash, with the money going to the worthy organisations.
Up until now he’s raised more than $12,000 with this noble act.
Initially the bins were stolen by a local, but Bob rectified that problem by chaining the bins to a section of fence at the Transfer Station.
But someone from Council did a ‘Columbo’ and spied Bob's name on the bins then confronted him.
“They accused me of making a quid out of this”, which Bob says is simply not true. “Then they took my bins worth $60 each and I haven’t seen them since”.
Bob says Council then wrote to him and ordered him to stop placing the bins on their property. “Sure I do make some money from aluminium cans in my regular business” says Bob, “but these bins are a separate thing altogether, it’s 100% for charity so why can’t Council understand that?”
Bob has told Newsport that on one occasion at the Transfer Station, while loading the charity bins on a truck to take down to a recycling depot at Craiglie, he was told by a Council worker he was operating a crane without a crane licence. “Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous” he says.
The good samaritan says “not allowing the charity bins to be placed at the Transfer Station is petty and it belongs to the ratepayers anyway so it’s most unfair”.
Council say Bob never got permission
A spokesperson from the Douglas Shire Council says they themselves support a number of approved local depots which operate under the Container Refund Scheme and provide donations to various community groups.
At this point Council and Bob differ in their stories.
While Bob says he got permission verbally to place the bins at the Transfer Station, Council says “The individual (Bob) has never requested or received permission to place the bins at the Cow Bay Transfer Station”.
Council say Bob is not a registered depot under the Containers Refund Scheme. They went on to say that Douglas Shire Council contractors are required to meet their Workplace Health and Safety requirements, so therefore they encourage him to place the bins at his own property or at the sites of organisations he collects money for.
Bob has now placed three new blue charity bins closer to home and hopes people passing by will toss their cans and bottles in for a good cause.
Small win for Bob
The Council spokesperson says the three confiscated bins are currently located at Council’s depot in Mossman and Bob is welcome to come pick them up.
Bob says thanks and confirms he will pick them up.