SIR — I refer to your report "The odd hiccup but new collections are set to go" on the new Sort It Plus refuse and recycling operations (Free ress October 28).

I would allege that "the odd hiccup" is a laughable euphemism for the chaos which ensued in our little hamlet of Bratton over a period of weeks and still at dusk last Friday - supposedly completion day.

We had uncollected rubbish piled up by the ford. Nine out of 14 households had no new bins for two weeks after the scheme had inexplicably started for the other five households, and no explanatory leaflets either.

Granted, in the grand scheme of things a few weeks of missed rubbish collections rates as a low priority life moment, but frankly for the Somerset Waste Partnership to say "the process had gone very well" makes my blood boil and I won't be fobbed off with such nonsense.

I want it to be known that it didn't go well at all here!

I do not wish to deride the noble efforts of the May Gurney refuse collectors on the street, who on every occasion went the extra mile to collect what they could with a smile.

No, my focus would be on the management and administration of this scheme, which after all is an excellent concept which I hope in the minds of local residents recovers from a dodgy start and wins over everyone's support for a successful future.

Tim Holmes,

Bratton.