Police called over huge Kettering tip queues

Calls to introduce a booking system for slots at county tips are growing after police were called to the Kettering site twice in two days because of huge queues.

The Garrard Way tip opened for essential waste on May 20 for the first time since all tips were closed because of the Covid-19 lockdown.

But with strict social distancing measures in place and waste building up at people's homes for two months there are queues to get in of more than two hours forming outside.

The build-up of vehicles has been so bad that police attended at about midday yesterday (Wednesday) and just after 10am today, minutes after it opened, to manage traffic.

There have been many calls on social media for Northamptonshire County Council to introduce a booking system like some other councils to manage the volume of traffic.

Steve Lupton, from Little Harrowden, was turned away because of the queues in Kettering.

He said: "They were saying the wait is two hours and they were just turning people away.

"But once you have got your car full of stuff what else are you going to do? Queuing up for two hours isn't great but most people who are going there haven't got anything else to do.

"There just seems to be no planning. My dad is in Reading and they have a booking system. You can only go once a week and you have to wait a week for a slot but it seems to work and there aren't traffic issues.

"I don't see why we can't have that in Northamptonshire. At the minute I'm concerned that people can't get into the tip and might fly-tip."

Just yesterday Rushden's tip was closed because of huge traffic on surrounding roads.

Cllr Jason Smithers, county council cabinet member for highways, said: “We successfully reopened the recycling centres last week without the need for an appointments system, and 17,000 vehicles used the service. However this week demand has increased further so we are reminding everyone to keep being mindful and avoid unnecessary trips.

“We reopened the recycling centres with as close to a normal service as possible. However, this includes having social distancing rules in place to protect customers and staff, and this means a reduction in the overall amount of vehicles and waste the recycling centres can deal with during the day.

“Therefore we are asking people to think really carefully whether it is necessary to bring their waste to the recycling centres whilst there is such high demand for this service. If your waste can be temporarily stored, then please try and keep it at home and don’t go to a recycling centre for a few weeks, when we expect the recycling centres to be quieter.

“And if you decide you need to take a trip to a recycling centre, please don’t arrive before the gates open as this causes a backlog that continues throughout the day.”