Sir,

Whilst protesting to the 'top man' in charge of refuse collection at Pembrokeshire County Council, I was assured, twice, that as a public service was being performed, that reversing down a one-way street, was indeed permissible/authorised.

As a former company director, at national, as well as international level, I know at first hand, that important and sensitive information/instructions, must be relayed/issued, from and by the top.

So the orange bag lorry driver and the black bag lorry driver, who both reversed their noisy enormous lorries more than half-way down the street, were simply following their managers' guidance and instruction.

But fundamentally, that guidance and instruction is illegal, but must have been supported by the responsible director, as well as the authority's top legal head.

So the drivers take the flak, whilst the actual guilty parties, remain aloof in offices, communicating falsehoods to the complaining public.

Whilst the proper care of children is paramount, there is a lot of rubbish elsewhere in our ranks.

Peter Lewis,

Park Place,

FOOTNOTE: This letter was written by Mr. Lewis following an incident on Monday morning when the refuse lorries were reversed along Park Place against the one-way system.

When contacted by the Observer, a spokesman for Pembrokeshire County Council, said: "The 18-tonne refuse vehicle reverses into Park Place because of the difficulty in manoeuvring around parked cars.

"A crew member from the vehicle is charged with ensuring the reversing operation is carried out safely and in a controlled manner.

"Because of this one complaint, we will now replace the current vehicle with a smaller 'cage' vehicle which will eliminate the requirement to reverse although it will mean extra costs on the service.

"The only other alternative would have been to introduce parking restrictions. It was felt this was not desirable because of the impact it would have on other residents."