A LEADING borough councillor has revealed waste collection staff have been asked to work longer hours in a bid to clear up a backlog of refuse.

Households across the area have been plagued with missed recycling collections because of a national shortage of lorry drivers in the wake of the Covid-19 “pingdemic” crisis.

Cllr Lynn Daniel, West Devon’s Lead Member for Waste, said: ‘I want to apologise on behalf of the council and our contractors for the disruption that these issues may have caused to residents and to thank you for your forbearance as we try to resolve our difficulties.

‘There have been missed collections and late collections of recycling recently, which has affected a small number of areas. The situation has arisen because of the skilled driver shortage. This situation is not likely to be resolved in the near future.

‘What we have been doing is requesting collection staff to work longer hours and to take on 25 per cent more work. To help us, we ask that residents put their waste out for collection as usual and it will be collected as soon as we can get there.’