‘Could you live with yourself for a moment of impulsive idiocy?’

The lives of binmen are being put at risk by impatient drivers performing dangerous manoeuvres to overtake rubbish trucks, warns Canterbury City Council.

Footage released by the authority shows a car braking suddenly to avoid hitting a binman after mounting a pavement.

In another clip, a Serco worker is forced to jump out of the way as a van squeezes past a refuse truck on a narrow street.

The council’s strategic contracts and commissions manager Sarah Randall said: “If you happen to be briefly delayed by a collection crew as they go about their work, it’s tough.

“Our crews have the right to go about their work safely and all have friends, families and partners to go home to at the end of the working day.

“For the sake of shaving a couple of seconds off your journey, it simply can’t be worth risking potentially killing or seriously injuring someone and ending up in prison.

“Could you live with your conscience and look their loved one in the eye for the sake of a moment of impulsive idiocy?”

Vehicles operated by Serco are fitted with 360-degree cameras. The council says footage of incidents is sent to police to take action.

The local authority has joined forces with 13 others and Kent Police to launch the Driving Recklessly On Pavements campaign, to encourage drivers to be patient and raise awareness of the dangers faced by crews.

David Currie, head of traffic prosecutions for Kent Police, said: “Rule 145 of the Highway Code states ‘you must not drive on or over a pavement, footpath or bridleway except to gain lawful access to property, or in the case of an emergency’. It is unacceptable to drive on the pavement to pass a waste vehicle to save just a few seconds.”