POOR old North Norfolk District Council comes under regular fire from those who hate its wheelie bin refuse collection system.But praise where praise is due.

POOR old North Norfolk District Council comes under regular fire from those who hate its wheelie bin refuse collection system.

But praise where praise is due. Shortly before a public holiday our binmen (forgotten what their official title is, but you know who I mean) slip a modest A5 sheet in our wheelie lid telling us when our rubbish will be collected over forthcoming bank holidays.

It couldn't be simpler; eg: usual collection day Tuesday December 25, new collection day Thursday December 27.

I spent Christmas in Surrey where the local Waverley District Council sent a glossy A4 brochure to all householders explaining their festive refuse collection arrangements.

It included multi-coloured flow charts linked by wiggly yellow arrows, and several calendars with stubby blue arrows pointing at them. All that was missing was a set of tiddlywinks and dice and we could have made a Christmas game of it.

It took three fairly-intelligent adults to work out when my parents needed to put out their bin - and even then we weren't 100pc confident until it had actually been emptied.

So top marks to our very own NNDC for brevity and clarity.