Hounslow Borough Refuse Collections Hit By Driver Shortage
Rubbish being left in the street for over a week
Driver shortage is affecting the regularity of collections
Problems with refuse collection in the borough of Hounslow appear to be intensifying with the council admitting to 'severe disruptions in the service."
It is understood that the main reason for the issues are an increasing number of drivers qualified to operate the bin lorries quitting for better paid work driving HGVs.
Some residents say that they have been unable to arrange for alternative pick ups for missed collections and have been left with a fortnight's worth of waste.
In a statement issued on Wednesday 20 October the council says, "Hounslow is currently experiencing severe disruptions to waste and recycling collections due to unforeseen circumstances.
"We understand that collection delays are frustrating and we’re sorry for disruption where it occurs. If your collection has been missed please report it using our online form via our website.
"We will ensure your collection is made at an alternative time over the next few days."
The following day Cabinet Member for Highways, Recycling and Companies, Cllr Guy Lambert said, “We are currently experiencing disruption in waste and recycling collections across the borough.
"The pandemic and shortages of qualified HGV drivers have caused exacerbating strain on our excellent Recycle 360 workforce.
“This extraordinary pressure resulted in a short interruption to our full waste and recycling service yesterday which is now resolved. The Council and Recycle 360 are working together to effectively respond to the ever increasing demand in the service.
“Despite these challenges we will work hard to continue to provide a regularly uninterrupted service just like we did throughout the pandemic.
“Recycle 360 crews have already commenced work to catch up with every missed collection across the borough.
"The delay yesterday will regrettably cause some delays for other residents as we work through the backlog.
"Crews will continue to make collections throughout the week including the weekend.
“Residents are advised to present their bin and recycling boxes for collection on the normal day of collection and leave it out until it has been collected.
“We recognise that delays are frustrating and we’re sorry for disruption where it has occurred."
The council did admit to ‘minor disruptions’ to waste and recycling collections in the borough back in September with a number of residents complaining about missed collections and rubbish left in the street for over a week.
The council at that time asked residents to minimising the amount of rubbish, recycling and food waste they produce and avoid doing big clear outs of their homes.
Councillor Guy Lambert, Cabinet Member for Highways, Recycling and Companies said, “We are committed to providing a full service, where possible, despite these challenges.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
October 22, 2021