I recently (November 2020) met with Andrew Reston of Reston Waste to discuss constituents' concerns regarding the operation of HGVs across Wimbledon. Andrew, and his daughter Harriett (Transport Manager), stressed their commitment to the community (as evidenced by their sponsorship of Wimbledon AFC) and how keen they are to address residents' legitimate concerns. As Gold accredited members of the Fleet Operators Recognition Scheme (FORS) they have also invested time and money in training their staff, improving their procedures and maintaining and improving their fleet and are keen to demonstrate their adherence to FORS operating requirements.

Our discussions centred on noise, routing and speeding/safety. 

NOISE: Residents are justifiably concerned about the noise from skip lorries and Andrew accepts this to be an issue. As every vehicle in his fleet is renewed within three years of purchase he has guaranteed that he will now only purchase skip lorries with chain sleeves. He will also retro fit every vehicle in his current fleet, which is not due to be renewed in the next 12 months, with similar device to stop the chains clanking around. In addition to the noise from chains he is also aware that the skips when empty tend to clang as they move in transit. He has previously invested in skip clamps to prevent this from happening but had to remove them as they were damaging the skips. In light of our discussion he has now committed to investigating how these might re-introduced. Under the FORS accreditation scheme Reston Waste are also required to appoint a Noise Champion who can be contacted on harriett@restonwaste.co.uk if you have any particular concerns.

ROUTING: Although Reston Waste do endeavour to inform drivers regarding street restrictions etc there are currently two difficulties to overcome. Firstly the records maintained by Webfleet Solutions a Bridgestone company (from whom fleet operators get their information) are not up to date as there have been problems getting the requisite information. I have consequently committed to speaking with the Council to determine where the logjam is occurring. Secondly, even if the system was up to date, it is a manual one that is often not consulted when the driver is assigned a route. Andrew has consequently committed to investing in a Webfleet solutions  service that incorporates  the restrictions in the HGV's Sat Nav system. I also raised the need for HGVs to avoid school streets where possible and I have agreed to provide him with details of every school street so that Harriett can devise a routing system to minimise their use. 

SPEEDING/SAFETY: The company are rightly keen to address any issues of speeding and dangerous driving and each HGV is fitted with eight cameras which can be remotely accessed along with data on speed etc. If residents are concerned about an incident they should contact the office on 0208-944-1349 or by email info@restonwaste.co.uk and provided them with as much information as possible i.e. vehicle registration, location, time and date for prompt communication and investigation.

I was impressed by Andrew and Harriett's desire to work with the community in improving relations and I'd like to publicly thank them for their commitment. They believe they are not infrequently blamed when the culprit is another firm and I hope the above processes will begin to address their concerns in this regard. To aid transparency Andrew has also agreed to include a page on his company website detailing complaints and how they were resolved which will give all of us an opportunity to see how things are progressing. 

I do hope we can all work constructively on this and I will be very happy to organise a meeting with Andrew and Harriett to discuss any continuing concerns once these measures have had time to bed in. Reston Waste plays an important role in the community, both in providing an essential service and in paying business rates and rent to the Council, and I am consequently keen to show how we can work together, before approaching other local operators. 

Best wishes,

Cllr Paul Kohler

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Wimbledon