WORKERS at a Scots council have crashed 570 times in three years – despite having just 385 vehicles in the fleet.
Staff at Scottish Borders Council were deemed responsible for more than a third of the smashes, resulting in payouts of more than £270,000 over the period.
The dreadful accident rate at Scottish Borders Council between 2011 – 2013 has led bosses to fit most bin lorries with cameras.
The council confirmed that 210 of the accidents were caused by its workers and that £272,925 had been paid in insurance claims.
Last year alone, it forked out £99,334 after employees were found responsible for 69 of the 197 crashes.
The accident rate means more than half of the council’s vehicles were pranged during the 12-month period.
A council spokesman said: “The paid figure is a gross cost and a percentage is recovered via the council’s insurer.
“The council has in place an ‘Accident Reduction Scheme’ which has seen the majority of refuse vehicles fitted with cameras and has helped to reduce the number of incidents where the council was at fault.
“There has also been a 20% decrease in repeat incidents in the last financial year.”
Asked if the offending employees had been disciplined, the spokesman said: “The Accident Reduction Scheme does not look to take disciplinary action against drivers unless there has been serious misconduct.
“Instead, the cause of the incident is identified and future risk is reduced by training or changes to the vehicle or operational area.”
