BIN burning has become a new ‘game’ in part of residential area in Barnsley, a councillor has warned.

A community safety meeting was told by Coun Phil Lofts that vandals had stolen and set fire to 20 wheelie bins in the Stocks Lane area, which is off Summer Lane.

“It’s a new game where teenagers are taking them and burning them,” he said.

“I am told it is teenagers by witnesses who have stopped them on two occasions and said ‘where are you going with that bin?’ and they’ve said ‘it’s my mum’s, I am taking it back’ and they’ve believed it and the bin has gone.

“I’ve been taking photos of the area where bins have been burned and counted up and they must have burned 20 bins.

“It’s a game we don’t want to continue because it’s costing residents £20 a time to replace them.

“The favourite are blue bins because they have combustible material in and some that are not blue bins are being emptied out and that may account for some of the rubbish we’re seeing on the street corners.

“It’s not fair. People are having their bins stolen and having to pay for them to be replaced.”

Coun Lofts had hoped to catch the culprits in the act by sitting in his car with the lights off at the top of Stocks Lane but unfortunately he didn’t see anything.

“Some action would be welcome,” he told the meeting.

Community safety team leader, Cath Fairweather, said one option that could be considered was to secure bins using chains and padlocks.

She said: “A scheme we had a few years ago was chains for wheelie bins to secure them to walls. We had funding for metal plates with a ring attached and provided people with chains and padlocks but the problem is they (the bins) would be set fire to next to properties. It’s a double edged sword.”

It was agreed to monitor the situation and to encourage residents to report incidents so they are officially logged by police.