Shocking CCTV footage shows a binman being assaulted and hurled abuse by furious homeowners for refusing to take their extra rubbish, while another is narrowly missed by an ‘impatient’ van driver who mounts a pavement to pass the lorry.
The clips reveal how bin collectors in Sheffield are facing a surge in physical violence from hacked-off homeowners who are angry with their waste disposal service.
In one worrying video, a raging resident can be seen tussling with a binman as he tries to force a massive cardboard box into their wagon.
Meanwhile in another video a builder was captured emptying a bag of rubbish into a bin lorry while ‘hurling abuse’ at the collectors as they went about their work.
Chief Risk and Assurance Officer at utility company Veolia, Richard Hulland, said the rise in violence had to stop and added: ‘No one should be abused simply for doing their job.’
A binman is narrowly missed by a van driver who mounts the pavement to get past the lorry
In one worrying video, a raging resident can be seen tussling with a binman as he tries to force a massive cardboard box into their wagon
Mr Hulland said the company was ‘determined to combat this unacceptable trend’.
One of the disturbing clips shows a man charging out to a bin lorry before attempting to force a huge cardboard box into the back of it.
Speaking about the incident, an unnamed binman said: ‘I grabbed the guy’s bin but didn’t take the extra waste.
‘Next thing you know he’s coming out of his house all angry like.
‘And he grabs a massive cardboard box with a load of stuff in it and starts making his way towards the wagon.
‘I try and stop him by blocking him and telling him to stop. But he manages to get past and shoves it on the back.
‘I then go and take it out of the back of the machine because it’s just too big* And then he comes over and starts wrestling with the box, and me, shouting all sorts.
‘Then his wife or girlfriend comes out and is trying to get him to stop but at this point, he’s just absolutely raging and just trying to get all his stuff on the back.
‘I just had to get away. There was just cardboard flying everywhere, [it] hit me in the head.’
Speaking about the incident, an unnamed binman said: ‘I grabbed the guy’s bin but didn’t take the extra waste. Next thing you know he’s coming out of his house all angry like’
One binman had a close call with an ‘impatient’ van driver who raced past him
The unnamed binman said the man was shouting at him as he threw cardboard over his head into the lorry. He added that the man’s partner came out to try and stop him
The van is seen mounting the pavement as he squeezes past the men and the lorry
Veolia said their staff reported over 40 cases of abuse from the general public in 2022.
And this surge in physical and verbal abuse prompted them and Sheffield Council to launch their ‘StreetKind’ campaign – with cameras fitted to the back of lorries.
In another incident a van is seen mounting the pavement and narrowly missing a binman. The unnamed binman said ‘he could’ve seriously hurt someone’.
Explaining what happened, he said: ‘So we’re out on this big estate, a really residential kind of place – lots of families that sort of thing – and we’re collecting brown bins.
‘I notice a van moving slowly behind, the wagon comes up to where I am and I notice the van but he’s keeping back. So I go to the back of the wagon to put the bin on and lift it to the back.
‘I suddenly realise that the white van has come up right behind me and comes up really close and fast and gets up on the pavement to come past us. It was quite scary really, cause this guy came really close to me.
An anonymous binman said dangerous situation have become ‘just a normal part of the job’
The unnamed binman said it was ‘quite scary’ seeing the van fly past him and onto the pavement
A man can be seen tousling with his rubbish as he tried to put it in the back of the lorry
‘And when he came up on the pavement, he came up on a corner so if anybody had been coming round that corner he’d have completely knocked them down.’
He added: ‘This sort of thing does become just a normal part of the job and you end up thinking that it’s normal to experience dangerous situations.’
Cllr Joe Otten, chair of the Waste and Street Scene Committee at Sheffield City Council, said he hoped the footage would reduce the abuse meted out to binmen.
He said: ‘Our workers do an excellent job every day and StreetKind encourages us to show even more appreciation for their efforts.
‘We hope through this campaign we can reduce the abuse workers can sometimes receive while delivering critical services for our city and I’m proud to support it.’
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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