Disgrace of the bin men (From Stroud News and Journal)

Disgrace of the bin men

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BIN men have been blasted in Whiteshill for reversing a truck with its horn beeping through the middle of a Remembrance service.

The ceremony was taking place at the village's war memorial, on the corner of the High Street and Field Road on Thursday.

Schoolchildren and the parish priest were reading out the roll of honour on the memorial and others were about to lay wreaths when the refuse lorry arrived.

"The lorry pulled in on the main road alongside the memorial and we thought they were going to join us for the two minutes' silence," said Whiteshill resident Alexandrina Jones. "But then they reversed beeping right through the middle of us as the wreaths were being laid.

"It showed a total lack of respect. "Nobody said anything at the time but there were a lot of shocked faces. "Afterwards several people said it was disgraceful. There was absolutely no need for it."

Mrs Jones swept aside suggestions that the refuse men might not have seen the gathering.

"There were children and the vicar in his robes right next to the memorial," she said. "And a large group of us, some holding wreaths, stood on the pavement just across the road. "There's no way they could have missed us."

On Monday Mike Wildman, operations manager for refuse contractors Serviceteam, apologised for the lack of respect.

"I can only apologise on behalf of the company. "From the sound of it what they did was totally out of order.

"We do have a policy that our guys stop at 11am and observe the two-minute silence. They should have diverted and found an alternate route out of common courtesy with all those people there."

Mr Wildman said he would personally investigate the incident and discipline the team if necessary.

Mrs Jones said she was grateful for the apology: "We were remembering people who had given their lives so these bin men had the freedom to reverse through the middle of our service," she said.

"If Hitler had had his way, they'd have probably been shot for less."