Southport residents are abusing refuse collection workers over bins not being collected.

Sefton Council’s Head of Operational In-House Services, Michelle Williams has described reported incidents of abuse aimed at refuse collection teams and reception staff by members of the public over delayed bin collections as ‘completely unacceptable’

Michelle said:

“We understand the frustration felt by many residents over the delays that have resulted from a combination of successive Bank Holidays and significant staff absences in addition to operational issues.  We are working hard to catch up on missed collections as soon as we can.

“We want to thank our teams for the considerable effort that is going into achieving this but to say that incidents of abuse they have received as they go about their work is entirely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

“These are the same teams who people praised and came out to clap for their work throughout the COVID pandemic, and we would ask people to now treat them with that same respect.

“We would like to reiterate our apologies to those who have been affected by these delays and thank the overwhelming majority of residents who have shown patience and understanding.

“I can reassure them we are doing everything we can, including deploying extra resources, to clear backlogs and get collections back to normal as soon as we can.”

Michelle went on to say reports of abuse about the delays to bin collections aimed at reception staff at Council buildings was also unacceptable.