A disabled aspiring binman has been rejected by a council for a third time despite completing a nine-month unpaid internship and being invited for an interview after two failed applications.
Bryan Rowe, 21, was twice turned down for the role by Southampton City Council before it claimed he had been rejected in error, inviting him back for an interview.
But the council then rejected him again in a ‘cruel and unfair kick in the teeth’ after Mr Rowe worked unpaid for nine months.
He had been a lorry loader for the council between November 2024 and June 2025 as part of an unpaid supported internship.
Mr Rowe has ADHD and myotonic dystrophy, a form of muscular dystrophy which affects muscles and organs in the body, causing progressive muscle degeneration with weakness and shrinking of muscle tissue.
During the internship he was ‘always enthusiastic and on time’ and the council ‘didn’t have a problem with him’.
Mr Rowe had wanted to be a binman since he was two years old and was encouraged to apply for vacancies once his internship ended.
But he was rejected twice, leading to criticism of the council for its ‘cruel and unfair’ decision.
The council then emailed Mr Rowe and invited him for an interview after it claimed an error had caused some candidates to receive incorrect information.
But he was rejected again after the interview, which left him feeling ‘that I am not good enough, no one wants me’.
His mother, Claire Rowe, said: ‘It’s very, very disappointing. He is devastated, it’s absolutely awful.
‘I just cannot believe that this has happened again.’
Ms Rowe said if the council did not think her son was capable of doing the role, they should have ‘let it drop’.
She said: ‘You were better off saying no and letting us be done with it, now they’ve kicked him back in the teeth again.
‘I find that hard to take as his mother that has spent the weekend trying to explain to him that he is good enough and that someone one day is going to want him.
‘I just think it’s cruel and unfair.
‘He wants to get out there as a disabled person and work and get some confidence, some money of his own.’
Southampton City Council said it received a high volume of applications and would not comment on individual candidates.
A spokesperson added: ‘All the applications and interviews have followed the council’s recruitment process. We wish all of the unsuccessful candidates well in their future endeavours.’
After his two initial rejections, Mr Rowe said: ‘I felt very disappointed not to get the job after two interviews with the council I worked for, I told mum that I am not good enough to get anything not even a binman job.
‘One of the senior team always asked if I was enjoying being there, I would always say yes.
‘I don’t know what to do as this is all I want to do but, I don’t want to sit around and do nothing.’
Ms Rowe added at the time: ‘He had been there for nearly nine months and the council didn’t have a problem with him, and then all of a sudden he’s not good enough and can’t do the role.
‘He worked for free for nine months, he was always enthusiastic and on time.
‘How are people meant to get enough experience?’
Ms Rowe said she had issued a formal complaint with the council and was told at the time that it was reviewing its recruitment services.
She added that since leaving college last summer, Mr Rowe had been trying to get a bin worker role with other local authorities and is also looking into private waste businesses – but had no success.
She said: ‘Bryan was completely broken-hearted about it, but he went back with his head held high and finished his placement.
‘If that’s not a kick in the teeth I don’t know what is.
‘He is very downhearted, he said he doesn’t want to bother applying anymore because nobody wants him.
‘While Bryan can do it, we want him to do it, because there might be a time where his myotonic dystrophy will pop up and stop him.’
