Council ordered JCB and four men to remove mattress

Council officials said they could not remove a mattress dumped on an embankment after claiming they needed four men and a JCB to do the job. Householders in Little Lever, near Bolton, Greater Manchester, had assumed that the mattress would be promptly removed by one or two workers after it was reported to the local authority.

But they had failed to take into account the health and safety requirements of Bolton Metropolitan Council. An official was duly dispatched to the scene to carry out a risk assessment. He decided that the only safe way to shift the mattress was to scoop it up in a 1.7 ton JCB digger – an operation that would require the services of a driver, a banksman to guide him, and two officials to make sure it was done properly.


Photo from here.

The council said it could be a week before the item was removed but a local councillor and a cafe owner then joined forces to drag it onto the roadside and on Monday the mattress was taken off to a nearby tip in the back of a council van. The councillor, Sean Hornby, said: “I’m not saying it was an easy job, but it took us four minutes to move it. The council’s approach is barmy – it’s health and safety gone mad”.

Bolton Council confirmed that the on-site assessment had been carried out by a trainee with the council’s “performance and improvement team”. He had concluded that the most appropriate course of action was to call in mechanical equipment.