POLICE are investigating an alleged attack on bin men as tensions rise over uncollected rubbish in Southampton.

Dustcart driver Peter Latham, 56, complained that a resident hurled a piece of concrete at him as he was getting back into the cab after collecting waste during a break in the strikes on Tuesday.

He said that the stone hit the truck. It came after a row over rubbish bags in a bin store at flats in Dyer Road.

A police spokesman said that they were investigating a report of criminal damage and threatening behaviour.

Meanwhile union bosses have urged police to investigate Tory leaflets left on wheelie bins across Southampton that they claim “smear” striking council workers.

The row comes as bin men confirmed that they would extend a week-long walkout by another week ahead of mediation talks next Thursday to try to resolve the dispute over pay cuts.

Bin men yesterday joined parking wardens and toll collectors on strike in the increasing bitter dispute with the city’s Tory-run council.

Street cleaners will walk out from Monday. It remained unclear last night what contingency plans the council has to clear rubbish.

As the cost of the industrial action now exceeds £100,000, last night it emerged that the city council had taken a £5m loan from Tory-run Crawley Borough Council at 1.5 per cent interest.

STRIKE ACTION DETAILS:
• 50-60 Street Cleaners:
 Planning a walkout on Monday

• 40 Parking Wardens:
 On strike until June 14

• 112 Refuse Collectors:
 Started a week-long strike this morning and will extend that for another week

•30 Itchen Bridge Staff:
 On strike until June 14.

Deputy council leader Jeremy Moulton said that the money had been borrowed in March before the strikes started and was at a better rate than the council could get elsewhere.

Up to 2,400 union members at the council are taking industrial action after dismissal notices were issued requiring them to sign up to new contracts by July 11 cutting their pay by between two and 5.5 per cent.

The council says that the cuts to terms and conditions will protect 400 jobs and help to make £25m of budget savings over the next year.

Unite has written to the Chief Constable of Hampshire, calling for an immediate investigation into leaflets which were stuck on residents’ bins in parts of the city with what the union claims was the “deliberate intention of smearing the workers”.

They read: “Your bin is not being collected because a small minority (only 11 per cent) of the unionised workforce supported by Labour are trying to score political points”.

Unite says that the failure to clearly mention who has written or produced the leaflets is an infringement of election law which requires that printed materials, including websites and emails, used during a campaign bear an imprint of the organisation producing the material.

The Tories refute the claims that the leaflets, which carry the Conservative Party logo and the website address of council leader Royston Smith, breached election law.

Unite regional secretary John Rowse said: “This leaflet is deliberately designed to cause division. Its purpose is not to inform the people of Southampton but to poison them against a solution being negotiated between the workers and their employers, Southampton City Council.”