Come rain or shine (and this week it is most definitely sunshine), our colleagues from Street Scene work through the elements, and in many ways are the face of the organisation – they are the colleagues who our residents see every week. First Team caught up with Tony Corner and Danny Driscoll, who do both refuse collections during the week and the paid garden waste collection on Saturdays.
Danny Driscoll has been with Street Scene service for 11 years. His refuse patches are Oakleigh Road and Edgware. Danny says that his team still get the handwritten notes from schoolchildren and general outpourings of appreciation from residents. In May, Barnet started paid garden waste collections, which Tony and Danny also do on a Saturday. Have residents been vocal about that?
Danny says: “You get the odd question from residents about paying for garden collections, but no one has said anything confrontational to me, or on my round. You just say garden waste is now a paid service only and they accept it. Barnet is very green, so garden waste collection is very important for residents in this borough! They love their green bins.
“I think our service has managed really well during COVID restrictions; we use hand sanitisers, practise social distancing. Because I have been doing the refuse collections for years now, a lot of residents know me and like to come and have a chat. But for now they have to stand by their front door and say hello from there. Children are still writing notes, saying thank you – children love the dust carts!”
“How have we kept going during this time? Well we all spend so much time out on the road together that we make it work. We have to carry on wearing the regulation uniform in spite of the heatwave out there. I am looking forward to seeing my mates when things get back to normal.”
Tony Corner has been with Street Scene for 15 years and says that recently, he and his colleague Danny have experienced working life on the other side – the office.
“Danny and I have been working in the office and working alongside supervisors, and I have to say it’s been a real eye-opener! Now we’ve seen how much they have to juggle, we see it’s more than just making sure the waste is collected, there’s different rounds, shifts and paperwork etc.
“Being in a non-office based job has its benefits. Most of my working life I have worked outdoors, and I definitely like working early and being able to avoid the rush hours. Residents have always been nice in my experience. We still find thank you messages stuck to the bins. We’re glad to hear so many staff enjoyed those dance videos, we’ll have to see if any of the teams are up for doing any more.”
First Team has been receiving lots of positive feedback about our weekly focus on teams around the business. If you have a story about your team you’d like to share, email first.team@barnet.gov.uk.