Driver shortages in Pendle force reduction in street cleaning to protect bin collections

Councillors at the October Policy and Resources Committee received a report on how the national shortage is impacting on Pendle.

Pendle Council has had to temporarily reduce street cleaning across Pendle in order to continue emptying bins for residents and businesses.

The council has now successfully recruited two new drivers and is paying for four frontline members of staff to have training so they can drive LGV vehicles. It also has an ongoing programme of goods vehicle driver apprenticeships with three members of staff currently on the scheme.

Leader of Pendle Council, Councillor Nadeem Ahmed, said: “Pendle has not been affected as severely as other areas in the country where reductions in bin collections have been reported. However, we recently lost three of our bin wagon drivers to jobs in the private sector.

“Thankfully, we have been able to sustain most of our frontline services by deploying some of our supervisors and street cleansing drivers to drive refuse and recycling vehicles.

“Staff have stepped up to the plate by returning from leave to help keep the rounds going.

“I would like to say a big thank you to our hard working team of staff who are continuing to go the extra mile to keep the services going which are a top priority for local people.”

David Walker, Pendle Council’s Environmental Services manager, said: “The team is facing another tough challenge. Colleagues are pulling together as they always do to overcome this challenge.

“If you’d like to join our friendly team, working for our community, we are currently advertising for another LGV bin wagon driver.”

Anyone interested can visit the website www.pendle.gov.uk/jobs or via the national Jobs Go Public site and look up the vacancy under Pendle.

Bin wagon driver Ben Rigby from Nelson, who’s worked as a driver for the council for over 10 years, said: “It’s friendly – we’re like a family and the managers are approachable. I live just around the corner, so it’s very convenient for me!”