Catalogue of faults on Rotherham's bin lorries

ROTHERHAM Borough Council’s brand new bin lorries broke down more than FIFTY times in their first five months.

More than half have needed repairs since the 20-strong purple-and-orange fleet first took to the roads in April.

A number of re-occurring defects have been found in the Dennis Eagle Olympus vehicles, including faulty gearboxes and cracked fuel tanks.

The resulting downtime has cost the council more than £3,000 in overtime wages—a third of which came in August alone.

Now bosses are hoping to claim back the cash from Lincolnshire-based supplier Translinc, the council’s transport partner.

Waste collection manager Belinda Travis said: “A number of re-occurring defects have been highlighted within the new fleet.

“Through close monitoring and communication with all relevant parties it is anticipated that the defects will be rectified and further cost implications to the service minimised.”

The council were among the first to take delivery of the new design of wagon. The fleet includes eight 32-tonne and eight 26-tonne trucks, as well as four vehicles for commercial waste collections.

Mrs Travis said: “During the initial implementation, as is often the case, various teething problems were highlighted and rectified accordingly.

“However some faults that were initially classed as teething problems have resulted in consistent, and yet sporadic problems within the fleet, resulting in equipment being incompatible with the on-board vehicle weighing system.

“This resulted in both under- and over-loading issues.”

Problems started within days of the lorries being sent out to pick up household waste. One vehicle was found to have water in the gearbox and another suffered a pressure fault and hydraulic oil leak.

Dozens of other issues since have included loss of power, a side panel “popping out” and a “noise behind the cab.”

Meetings have taken place between the council, Translinc and other partners.

Mrs Travis said: “We were initially assured the issues had been rectified and yet occasions were still arising where vehicles were significantly under-achieving their maximum weight capacity. Eventually a software fault was diagnosed as the problem.

“In addition a number of other multiple defects arose including gearbox faults, rear body cracks on door mounts, and cracking fuel tanks.

“This again impacted on the level of overtime worked to maintain collection schedules. Throughout this period service standards within the department have been upheld to a high standard to ensure RMBC residents receive a high standard of service.”

Wagons were out of action for more than 25 hours in August. The council said Dennis Eagle has carried out a comprehensive programme of modifications and upgrades to all vehicles but some issues remain unresolved.

Translinc has yet to respond to the council’s claim for costs.

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