Havant Borough Council says it is 'really sorry' for uncollected bins across the borough

Havant Borough Council and Norse South East have issued a statement saying they are ‘really sorry’ for the recent disruption to bin collections.

Council services provider Norse South East is experiencing staff shortages, disrupting the usual collection of rubbish, recycling, garden waste and glass banks across the borough.

The council is working to ensure bins will be collected as soon as possible, according to Councillor Lulu Bowerman, cabinet lead for Capita and commercial contracts.

She: ‘We would like to offer our sincere apologies to those residents who have faced disruption to their bin collection.

‘There is no doubt the service has been encountering a number of operational challenges recently and I am so sorry for this. We are doing everything we can to get it sorted as quickly as possible.

‘The team has been doing their utmost to provide our residents with a timely service and Norse South East is working hard to put things back on track. The aim is to collect missed bins as a matter of urgency.’

Residents have taken to social media to complain about the disruption, worrying that the uncollected rubbish may attract rats or other pests.

A national shortage of qualified drivers was making it difficult to make up staff shortages, according to Justin Galliford, CEO of Norse Commercial Services.

He said: ‘On behalf of Norse South East I would like to apologise to those affected, for the delay in the collection of their bins.

‘We would like to reassure residents that we are working to resolve these issues and to improve performance.

‘We have had staff shortages and there is a national shortage of qualified drivers which have had an impact on our ability to collect your bins.

‘We’re going to be recruiting more drivers and training others so that we have back-ups in place to cover shifts.’

Residents should continue to leave their bins out on their scheduled collection day, and the days following, and crews will collect them as soon as possible.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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