Bin collection update

In recent weeks, staff sickness has reduced our HGV driver resource and we’ve also experienced a number of mechanical issues which has taken some of our wagons off the road.

Unfortunately, the issues we’ve experienced have caused some disruption to residents and we understand just how frustrating this has been.

Should a collection be unsuccessful, crews will attempt to catch up on these the next working day. In extreme cases, when we are unable to collect the bins the next working day, a Saturday collection will be arranged and residents will be notified about this.

To address the national driver shortage, Hartlepool Borough Council has a successful training programme where staff are taught to drive vehicles and obtain the necessary licences. Unfortunately, training was suspended nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning we couldn’t get staff through the test as fast as we would like. We have managed to train up more drivers recently and have more tests booked in for the coming weeks.

We also have a vehicle procurement programme which see’s our older vehicles replaced before they become a maintenance liability. Unfortunately, due to events on a global level, the supply of new vehicles has been substantially disrupted and this means we are currently running with older stock which should have been replaced. This has had an impact on the availability of parts for our existing fleet and means when a vehicle breaks down it is often off the road for longer the usual. We have been successful in being able to hire a vehicle in to assist whilst our smaller back street wagons are off the road and are continuing to source new vehicles.

Our crews are working exceptionally hard to minimise disruption and whilst there might have been a slight delay for some residents, please rest assured we are trying to minimise this short term impact and are still managing to catch up collections by the end of the working week.

Again, we’d like to thank residents for their patience whilst we are dealing with these issues – we do understand how frustrating it is for you and we hope to be back to full capacity in the near future.

We are currently recruiting casual refuse drivers and operatives. If you – or someone you know – is interested in this opportunity please visit Casual Refuse Driver/Operative - Hartlepool Borough Council - North East Jobs