Problems of missed household rubbish collections and the mess left behind by binmen have been highlighted by Council chiefs.

There are also concerns that some crews are dumping food waste into the general black bag collections, so negating recycling efforts.

A Council report has put the contractor involved for running services in Richmond – Serco – in the dock for repeated failures and 'poor' levels of service.

Concerns about service levels have been raised by Councillors, council officials, The Richmond Society and residents, not least the fact that binmen racing to complete collections often leave behind mess on the streets.

The company has blamed a lack of drivers and inexperienced crew for the issues. At the same time, supervisors who would be expected to monitor service standards have been diverted to driving lorries.

Serco took over the contract, which could eventually be worth £60 million to provide services for 10 years with an option for another 10, in April 2020.

It struggled to cope with a massive increase in waste linked to the shift to working from home as a result of Covid. Services improved as lives returned to normal, however the situation has deteriorated again.

A Council report assessing services states: "Whilst it was recognised that Covid had been a challenging impact upon the start of the new contract, and which contributed to a range of service issues, it was also accepted by Serco that the performance of the contract was poor and improvements were, and continue to be, required to ensure consistent services are delivered to residents."

It said: "Issues include missed collections, repetitive missed collections and mixing of waste streams.

"In recent months, these issues have been extended to include waste spillage, container replacement and non-recovery of missed collections."

It added: "The perception is that performance has deteriorated again since April 2022 and remains significantly below the expectation of that the contract is meant to delivery.

"These perceptions are supported by the key performance indicators such as missed collections and non-recovery of missed collections."

Serco has a workforce of 120 covering Richmond, including 39 drivers and 73 loaders. There are some 34 refuse vehicles covering 86,500 properties - 65,000 houses and 21,500 flats.

Out of more than 1.4 million Borough-wide collections each month, 1,600 were reported as having been missed in April, 2,400 in July and more than 2,100 in August.

The Council said Serco has established a missed collections team, but it is too soon to know if this is bringing an improvement.

Separately, new instructions have been given to staff to ensure they meet expected standards, and league tables have been created for crews to try and improve performance.

Report a missed collection - https://www.richmond.gov.uk/services/waste_and_recycling/report_a_missed_collection