Brighton is in the midst of a rubbish collection crisis following a spate of “scandalous” bin lorry sabotages which have left refuse piling up across the city.
Roads across the popular seaside destination have seemingly been abandoned by waste collection services for over a week, resulting in overflowing bins and a deluge of rubbish, after the damaged lorries were unable to complete their rounds.
The mess has even forced Brighton & Hove City Council to hire external agency workers to lighten the load on its Cityclean service’s staff in a push to get its streets clean again.
And authorities have blamed the crisis on “wilful damage” to the lorries – two of which had their wires “purposely cut to ensure the vehicles couldn’t operate and therefore couldn’t go out”.
Two lorries had their wires “purposely cut” to ensure the vehicles couldn’t operate
Brighton & Hove City Council/PA
The wire-cutting follows a fire at the council’s lorry depot which left a further two vehicles out of action, and has prompted an investigation.
Now, the council has hit out at the saboteurs, issuing a “stark warning” to them for disrupting the city and endangering staff – while Sussex Police have launched a criminal investigation into the damage.
A council statement said: “Town hall bosses say the sabotage and vehicle defects have increased dramatically following dismissal action that was taken as a result of the KC report published last October.”
The report, prompted by whistleblowers at Cityclean, found that the service was “mired in racism, sexism and homophobia” and was a place “where swearing, shouting and threatening behaviour [had] become routine”.
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Council leader Bella Sankey and exec Donna Chisholm both called for disciplinary action against the saboteurs
Brighton & Hove City Council/X
The council statement continued: “Also at this time a post on the GMB Sussex branch ‘X’ account stated: ‘Chaos set to hit the city of Brighton. The sleeping giant has awoken watch this Twitter feed for further information.’
“This post was subsequently deleted and the GMB made a statement disowning the tweet and saying it would investigate it. The results of that investigation have not yet been published.”
Council leader Bella Sankey praised “the vast majority” of Cityclean staff, but condemned “a small minority who are disrupting our waste and recyling service”, vowing to “not be held to ransom by these people”.
Cllr Sankey said: “The cutting of lorry wires is unlawful and scandalous, and is extremely dangerous to our staff… We’re taking the necessary steps to find out who is responsible for this illegal sabotage and they will face the most serious disciplinary action.”
Her call for disciplinary action was echoed by the council’s Executive Director for Economy Environment & Culture, Donna Chisholm, who told Cityclean staff the sabotage was “unacceptable”.
Chisholm said: “I know you’ll be concerned because deliberate damage can be very dangerous and certainly causes disruption to your rounds.
“I want to reassure you, we take deliberate vehicle damage extremely seriously.”
The council has pledged to clear the mess away “as soon as possible”, and said Cityclean was beginning to clear the backlog of missed collections which have left residents in dismay.
