One in four bookings are going to waste at the Townmead Road Recycling Centre, Richmond Council said.

In July, a new online booking system was launched, letting people book their slot in advance and avoid lengthy queues.

Social distancing measures meant the number of visitors allowed on the site at one time had to be restricted and the site's capacity reduced.

Residents often have to book at least a few days in advance to visit the recycling centre. At the time of writing, the next available slots are on Sunday, November 22.

Over the past few months, the number of people booking a slot but not turning up has increased, the council said – and last month, a quarter of bookings were not honoured.

Related news:

Hero workers scour skips and rescue woman's lost phone

Cllr Julia Neden-Watts is chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee on Richmond Council. She appealed to people to cancel their slots if they can't attend.

She said: "When we reopened Townmead Road in May, lengthy queues of traffic rapidly built up and we put in place an appointment booking system to address this. It has been working well.

"But we have a rising number of people who make an appointment and don't turn up, which restricts other people's opportunity to book a slot.

"If you make an appointment to visit the centre, please cancel it if you are unable to honour it.

"The software interface has been improved and it is quick and easy to cancel if you need to - please do so, so that someone else can take your place."

Please like and follow our online newspaper on your favourite social media channel. You can find us @RichmondNubNews on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.