People told to stay away as queue for Telford tip hits 75 minutes
People were warned to stay away from tips in Telford today after queues to get in reached 75 minutes.
The recycling centres only reopened on Tuesday but earlier this afternoon Telford & Wrekin Council asked people not to go to its Hortonwood or Halesfield centres due to the amount of people queuing.
The council's official Twitter account posted: "It is now 3.45pm and we already have traffic queuing at our recycling centres – waiting times at Halesfield now at 75 minutes.
"Please don’t come now as chances are you won’t get to the gates before they close at 5pm."
It comes after the council reported that a small number of visitors had been abusing staff at the Veolia centres.
Pedestrians are not allowed to dump rubbish, while only a few cars are permitted in at a time.
The council was criticised for the system in operation with one person suggesting the creation of an appointment scheme to reduce the disruption on users and nearby businesses.
An appointment-only scheme is being introduced by Dudley Council when it opens its Stourbridge tip up next week, while in Walsall the council is asking people to bring ID to prove they live in the borough.
The council said it had looked at such ideas but had decided against them.
A spokesman said: "An online booking system, postcode system and other such ideas have been considered, but decided against for a number of reasons.
"Not all households have online access and our call centre is already stretched with managing calls from our residents who need essential support.
"We are operating a ‘one in, one out’ system to aid social distancing and to keep any queues flowing as efficiently as possible.
"The key message is that the recycling centres are open for essential use only – essential use is when items need to be disposed of to prevent injury, illness or harm to residents who have a problem with storing the waste at home.
"We expect there to be queues, and we are warning people to be prepared for queues to help them make a decision on whether their visit is absolutely essential or whether they can wait until the recycling centres are fully operational."
