Surfing binmen video sparks probe
Wednesday 28th October 2009, 12:54PM GMT.
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Binmen in the Black Country have been filmed “surfing” from the back of a lorry, sparring while on duty and hitting a dead rat.
The internet footage was today condemned as “completely unacceptable” by Walsall council chiefs and has sparked an investigation.
The three separate clips on the popular video sharing website YouTube have now been viewed by more than 1,300 people.
All three were uploaded by someone using the name ‘ws2jamie’.
One, entitled ‘Boxin binmen Walsall Council’, shows two men in high-visibility jackets and boxing gloves, referred to as Jamie and Big Bill, taking part in a three-minute bout of sparring in front of a bin lorry. With the description ‘Crouchy slappin up a dead rat’, another shows a man repeatedly hitting what appears to be a dead rat, which is attached to the bottom of a wheelie bin as it is emptied into a truck.
The other video features footage recorded from another mobile phone and shows around 50 seconds of a refuse collector being pulled along a road by a bin lorry, while he skids on the soles of his shoes.
Keith Stone, Walsall Council assistant director for neighbourhood services, said the three men featuring in the videos were agency employees and no longer working for the council.
“This behaviour is completely unacceptable and the council treats these matters, in particular the health and safety issues, very seriously,” he said.
“We are continuing to look through the footage to see if anyone else was involved and will be carrying out a thorough investigation.”
One Walsall resident who asked not to be named said he was not impressed by the clips.
He said: “Whilst looking on YouTube.com for stuff on Walsall Council I was shocked when I came across several posted videos of Walsall Council refuse collection staff fighting, hitting a rat, playing about and above all hanging on the back of a refuse truck when moving.
“The videos are a disgrace to us Walsall residents who pay council tax for the refuse service and their antics shown on the videos are probably why most times our bin service is limited. The staff involved should be sacked as they are a disgrace to the council.”
The clips are the latest ‘pranks’ uploaded to YouTube to have prompted controversy.
Last March, a video was posted on the site of a 22-year-old worker at the Brownhills branch of the Subway sandwich store shoving lettuce into his nose and mouth before spitting it out into a tray used to serve the public.
Richard Shannon, of Castle Street, Brownhills, was sacked and sentenced to 300 hours of unpaid work after a court hearing.
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What’s this Walsall Council we can’t have people enjoying themselves whilst at work can we !!
Good god all the problems in the country and some pompous council official says this is completely unacceptable.
It’s no big deal, get a life.
I suppose the H&S brigade will be on now chastising me….. hahaha
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This is brilliant !! So what they are still emptying bins. That surfing is awesome and the rat slapping is hilarious good on yer lads!!!!!!
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Brilliant – best local news story I’ve seen this year. You can’t write that sort of comedy.
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Yet again it’s walsall binmen wasting time, which of course is money, the tax payers money, they are just like the council big wigs.
where is moxley’s £100 million pounds that was awarded by the EU three years ago?
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Ridiculous. Refuse collection is a grinding job, and I don’t blame these people for making their day more interesting.
Council officials should find something else better to do.
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No big deal- Its got nothing to do with H&S or “having a good time” and certasinly not funny (unless you were one of them?)-it is about common sense, riding on the back of any vehicle is reckless,dangerous and irresponsible, and has for playing boxing-they are paid to “work” not use tax payers hard earned cash to fool around, if they want to do that then do it in their own time.
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meant to say certainly-oops-oh and by the way (2) how are they still emptying bins when they are spending more time mucking about- redice the number on the bin round then they won’t have time to muck around plus the council will save some money.
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err it a a big deal when they do not turn up to empty your bin and you have to wait another week for a collection.
Pathetic Walsall Council as usual !!!
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Some people need to get a grip theres loads of unhappyness in the world.Someone with to much time on there hands surfs yotube looking for things to moan about get a life.Its just some lads having laugh ,the job gets done wheres the problem get a grip ,
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Idiots so this is what we pay our Council Tax for to watch Chavs performing like that , wished i could find a job like that
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johnwolf: it has everything to do with H&S as it falls back to the employer not the employee if one of those members of Walsall Councils staff got injured and it would be the HSE that would Investigate.
Think about it guys alot of things fall back to H&S or HSE in the workplace.
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no 6 lighten up ha paid to work hey tell me you were on your lunch break when you posted your comment …..i bet not…….makes the best of a crappy job i say enjoy
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Oh well if the lad using the hockey stick gets taken off the bins put him on pest control. These guys ARE a breath of fresh air chill out.
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derek are you on your lunch break then ? or a dole dossin chav who finds this kid of behaviour funny ?
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no. 6….i completely agree. This is irresponsible, wreckless and immature.
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What is the problem, are these workers not allowed to have a laugh and a joke at work? They are human beings not robots, give us some real news.
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i was in the boxing video i was on my dinner break at the time this video i have to stop for a 45 min break,so is it against the law to burn of some energy after sittin behind the wheel for four hours the bins on that day were all collected if i gave any impression that this was the image of walsall council then i deeply regret bein involed in this video as for me i have two kids and a mortgage to pay never did i think that i would possibly lose my job over this i am not involved in any other of the videos and not responsible for posting the vids online
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It is obvious that those who think this kind of practice is funny are probably as thick as the idiots in the video. Unless those commenting are actually the idiots in the video but then again i am sure they would not be able to write
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lol i’m in the paper agen all I can say is thank you express and star, I like to have fun when I work what’s wrong with that?? I got the sack for the first report about me having fun at work, I think me and super crouch who got sacked with me was 2 of the best workers they eva seen, the job was always done in gud time so why not have a lil joke around in the time we take off rounds? people used to love us working in there area cause it was a change to there boreing day in all fairness we was more than bin men we was like community workers so some one please tell me whats wrong with that?
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i cant believe how people are reacting to this.. ok the waggin surfing is abit dangerous but theres no way to tell that its actually a walsall council waggon, as for the boxing video, whats so unacceptable about it?.. the lads were most likely on a tacho break and just having a bit of a laugh to brighten up an other wise routine day.. people say “i pay my council tax” blah blah.. so do these lads and everybody seems to forget that.
your telling me the majority of us dont have a laugh and a joke at work? cause thats all it is! i can see that and im a retired head teacher. it is being blown out of proportion if you ask me.
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god the lads are only having a laugh they are not hurting anyone
what is walsall councils problem im a tax payer and i have watched these videos i dont see what “T WOLVES” finds irresponsible, wreckless and immature
grab yourselves a sense of humour !!!
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No wonder this country as gone to the dogs, this is just a bit of fun this sort of banter happens every day from binmen to directors its called having a sense of humour so get a life and leave these hard working guys alone
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There’s no proof that the antics of these bin men is why people’s refuse hasn’t been collected for over a week.
The sad fact is that being a binman means you get looked down upon by the more uppity members of the community (“chavs” etc.). And now they can’t even have a little fun on the job. They’ll ban them from smiling next.
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Can anyone honestly say they have never taken a few minutes of work time for office pranks or to have a laugh with their mates?
Ok it’s daft and it’s a teeny bit dangerous and their wages are paid by council tax, but I bet their managers waste (no pun intended) more time and money going on conferences or jollies!
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At least the rat was dead lmao
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whats wrong with the lads haveing a laugh and a joke boxing with each other if its in there dinner break,al the bins were emptied and they are hard workers so i dont see what is wrong!!!!
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How much is the ‘thorough investigation’ going to cost and what work won’t be progressed because of reassignment of staff to deal with this ‘serious’ matter, work mates having a laugh – no sexual harrassment no racist or homophobic over tones, all that is needed is a word by the supervisor to those involved end of story draw a line under it and move on to address real issues.
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The binman boxer to the left of the camera should consider turning professional, looks like he packs quite a punch, the boxer to the right of the camera should consider ballet!
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oh my god this sillyness needs to stop!!
with all the nasty stuff going on in the world and all some people are botherd about is petty things like this, these guys were only having a laugh, which does you good! all you moaners out there should try it.
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Give them a break, at least they aint on strike like the Bin-Men in Leeds, im sure people would have far more harsh comments if their bins hadnt been emptied!
I have a laugh and joke at work as im sure most people do.
Get a life and leave them alone x
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they wouldn’t be laughing if they slipped under the wheel of the bin lorry..how stupid can you get?
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I have more reason than many to dislike parts of Walsall Council but without any doubt whatsoever the refuse collection and re-cycling depots are absolutely first class! The bin men are friendly blokes who work at a frightening speed, so if they get a bit hyped up, who cares? The job gets done, on the dot! They always share a smile when they arrive. Give them their jobs back and lighten up a little. A quiet word would have been enough.
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Have had loads of fun at work. Have blown a portacabin over. A security guard’s hut and shifted about 10 tons of earth and trees all with a Phantom Jet carrying out engine ground runs. Oh and had a phone call from a pub 5 miles away complaining about the noise during quiz night.
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WOW!!!! what a miserable bunch we have here in the west mids… yeah ok the surfing stunt was kinda dumb, ever seen someone hit by a wagon…. NOT pretty!
What’s wrong with letting off a little steam on a break? Hmmmm now if it were a bunch of council corporate types off on a paint balling weekend AT THE TAX PAYERS EXPENSE, as is often the way, would those knees be hitting the ceiling the way they are?
Or is it that the moaners have no sense of humour, sense of fun and and are actually jealous that some people have enough creativity to actually enjoy themselves at work?
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Good one, boys!!!
Enjoy yer work any way you can!!!
Walsall Council – get a life!!!!
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Hang on the residents of Walsall are the first to complain when the binmen dont empty a bin or are late yet when there are videos of idiots behaving like morons when onshift people think its funny.
Well next time your bin isnt emptied or the collections late dont worry its probably the bin crew letting off steam somewhere.
Hope they all get the sack , morons
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then there are people with REAL problems…
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We are all up for a laugh when at work but when folk don`t do their job then thats another matter.I live in Walsall and have lost count the number of times the binmen aint collected our rubbish.Even this morning a few bins including mine were not emptied.Its like they do a few then cannot be ars*d to do the rest.They all want sacking.If they don`t want the job pi** off and let someone else do it.
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what they are doing is pretty stupid, you can defend them by saying they are blowing off steam etc but really think about it, if i was on my lunch break and started A BOXING MATCH outside of work i would be sacked and rightfully so. I think as grown men they should have been more responsible and mature, there is a time and a place for that stuff and it isn’t at work.
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yeah half the bins in new forest road walsall not emptied today…walsall mbc are a joke.rang up and got some moron out the office.he said he will look into it! my bin is still full though.they probably surfin somewhere.all need sacking.
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Our bin also was not emptied today our crew were probably surfin to or having a punch up or rat slappin. No matter how people try and defend these morons the service is rubbish and has idiots working for it.
Walsall council you need to weed out these idiots and sort out the service as at the moment it stinks like the rubbish you have not took today
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aimed at no,38, perhaps,like a lot of moaners, your bin, either one, hasnt been emptied cos youre not following council policy on what you can and cant put in your bins, or made too much refuse that your lid was sticking up(causing a health & safety issue) or cant be bothered to recycle !!
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eah,And you wonder why sometimes the bins are not emptied?It*s because of inconsiderate parking,,i.e parking on corners allowing no access…Some of you lot ought to try the job,,,Getting verbally abused is part of it,or just go back to your pen pushing jobs…
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to geoff no 42…yes we do recycle,yes the lid was shut,they just didnt bother to empty it.Probably 4 or 5th time this year.doesn`t sound much but I work hard for the money I pay in council tax.People who defend these idiots make me sick…does this answer your questions? are you related to the morons in question? Sounds like you are or one of the walsall mbc employees???
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think paul hits it on the head when he says bad parking prevents access,these are very large vehicles manouvering around narrow side streets in most areas and it cant be easy for those drivers to carry out their duties
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CORRECTION.
I hadnt viewed all of the footage.
I think that a severe reprimand or suspension without pay would have been appropriate if this was a first offence.
The moron who filmed and put it on UTube should have been sacked. What happens to people who work for Walsall council whe do similar thing. I bet the council cant sack them.
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I wanna be a binman YAHOO!
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