Rubbish firm’s 7 deadly bins

For almost three decades Serco has been emptying wheelie bins across the district, but its tenure has not always been without controversy. From telling a man to take his bin on the bus, to forcing a gran to wheel hers for a mile to its depot, here are sev

JUNE 2013 Canterbury City Council’s drive to urge homeowners to recycle more turned into a humiliating fiasco after binmen were filmed mixing rubbish carefully separated by residents.

A video emerged as the council rolled out its new £1 million system, which it boasted would be greener and more efficient as people were encouraged to sort their rubbish into six different bins.

Posted online, the film showed a binman dumping the sorted recycling waste into a single wheelie bin, which was then tipped into the back of a rubbish truck.

The footage was captured in Station Road, Whitstable, by resident Colin Council, who said: “When I saw them outside my door shove it into one bin I thought ‘what is the point of recycling?’.”

Colin Carmichael, city council’s chief executive, admitted he was “shocked and horrified” by the footage.

He added: “We are having urgent discussions with Serco to investigate what their staff have done.

“And we will be looking at what we pay Serco in these circumstances.”

APRIL 2018

Stephen Rickwood threatened to dump rubbish on the doorstep of council leader Simon Cook, right, after Serco repeatedly missed collections for his severely disabled ex-wife.

The contractor had sent flowers and an apology to Marilyn Rickwood for its repeated poor performance and promised to engage a manager to look at her issues urgently.

But as they persisted, Mr Rickwood emailed Cllr Cook to say: “The next time it happens I will pay for transporta-

OCTOBER 2014

A great-grandmother with arthritis dragged her wheelie bin a mile through the city centre after rubbish collectors failed to empty it on time.

Fed-up Nan Miller, 85, pulled the heavy container from her home in Holter’s Mill to the doorstep of the former Serco depot in Kingsmead Road in protest at the unreliable tion of the bins to be emptied at the front of your home address and I don’t care what you do about it.”

Cllr Cook responded: “I understand he’s very upset and I understand he’s very cross about this and concerned about Mrs Rickwood.

“However, threats which border on the abusive are unworthy of people.”

MAY 2018

Three binmen found themselves in hot water after footage emerged of them appearing to mix recycling and leaving rubbish strewn across the pavement.

Angry resident Leopold Slayter, 61, captured the refuse collectors “throwing bins around” outside his home in Jesuit Close, Canterbury, and apparently his neighbours had taken the time to sort.

One of the workers – a full-time Serco employee – resigned during a disciplinary process, while the other two agency workers were no longer used by the firm.

Mr Slayter said: “I spend time recycling, then these workers decide to be fools.”