Dudley Council’s highways chief is asking motorists to park responsibly, with double and irresponsible parking causing issues for waste and refuse collection vehicles.

Councillor Damian Corfield, cabinet member for highways and environment, is an experienced HGV driver of over 30 years and today he took to the wheel to drive one of the waste care vehicles in Upper Gornal.

He was joined by a crew who were doing their usual morning refuse collections, giving the cabinet member an opportunity to see the challenges presented by irresponsible parking.

Dudley Council has 38 frontline 26 tonne vehicles for refuse and green collections, with 6 narrow access vehicles undertaking weekly and fortnightly recycling collections across the borough.

Each team collects approximately 15 tonnes of refuse from around 1,400 properties each day, but irresponsible parking is sometimes causing delays to the time critical rounds.

The crews will collect as normal on Bank Holiday Mondays, and with some people heading away for the weekend and many off work, residents are reminded to leave cars responsibly parked. Councillor Corfield said:

“With new homes continuing to be built and a growing population, demand on the service is high but collection rounds are sometimes being delayed by people who have double or irresponsibly parked.

“As an experienced HGV driver, it was important for me to go out today and get behind the wheel for myself, and it was useful to see the sorts of issues our drivers are facing.

“I want to ask all our residents to remember not only how irresponsible parking can cause issues for the waste care services that we all rely on, but also how such parking could affect access for emergency vehicles.”