HOUSEHOLDERS are being threatened with a £100 fine if they put their bins out too early.

The warning is part of a campaign in Salford to curb arsonists targeting wheelie bins. Council chiefs say the annual cost of sending fire crews and replacing stolen and damaged bins is around £2m a year.

Residents are being asked to put bins out only when necessary - not before 7pm the night before collection - and put them back by 11pm on the day.

Anyone who leaves wheelie bins out repeatedly, despite warnings, could be fined £100.

Coun Keith Mann said: "Not only are wheelie bin thefts and arson a significant cost to tax payers but bin fires are also dangerous, waste fire service time and risk lives.

"This is first and foremost a campaign to advise people about what they can do to reduce the problem. Any fines will be an absolute last resort."

Firefighters answer more than 900 calls to wheelie bin fires across Salford every year. About 3,500 bins a year are stolen or go missing.

Salford's fire service Commander Geoff Akroyd said: "We have had incidents where fires started in wheelie bins have spread to houses and put people's lives at risk."

Last month Reddish mum Victoria Clarke was fined £350 for leaving her rubbish out on the wrong day. Stockport council said she left eight bags of rubbish on the pavement almost a week early.

Two people died after a wheelie bin was torched outside a house in Bolton in June. A fireman suffered 50 per cent burns dealing with the blaze. The case is being treated as double murder.