Rubbish piles up across Sefton with over a quarter of bin lorry drivers off sick

Sefton Council has apologised to local residents who have experienced long delays getting their bins collected.

A council spokesperson revealed that over a quarter of bin drivers are off due to staff sickness, but the council is encouraging residents to leave their bins out for collection.

A spokesperson for Sefton Council said: “We would like to reiterate our apologies to residents who have been impacted by some delays to their waste collection services.

“We are experiencing operational challenges including a much higher than normal level of staff sickness absences.

“This has significantly impacted our specialist driver unit, where currently 27% of the team are unable to work due to sickness. 

“We are working hard to address any missed services and we ask that residents continue to leave their bins out for collection.”

The spokesperson said there was no way of telling if the staff sickness was COVID-related due to the end of national testing.

One resident said their green bin had been out for ‘11 days and counting’.

Another Sefton resident who lives in Formby said: “My brown recycling bin has been out for a week now and the grey bins full of rubbish are due to be collected tomorrow.

“We’ve been told by the council just to leave our bins out, but it feels like nothing is being done about it. It’s both and eyesore and a health and safety hazard.”