DRIVERS are risking the lives of refuse collectors by mounting pavements and driving into coned off areas.

Chichester District Council has seen an increase in the number of incidents where crew members have experienced a risk to their safety by other road users.

Councillor Mark Chilton, cabinet member for finance, corporate services and Chichester contract services said: “Our collection crews are our very own waste warriors. They perform such an important role in making sure our district is clean and tidy by completing their collections, and they take every precaution to complete their rounds safely.

“We are asking those on the district's roads to help us keep our crews safe by taking extra care when driving close to our staff and vehicles because we have seen an increase in near miss incidents reported this year.

"These are incidents where something more serious, such as harm, injury or worse could have happened but was fortunately avoided. Some recent examples have included a third-party driver mounting the pavement to drive around the crew and their vehicle, putting themselves, our crew, and other members of the public at risk.

"In another case, someone had not noticed or ignored the traffic management put in place for our crews to litter pick along the roadside. They entered the section of road that our crew had coned off, and the driver had to suddenly stop.

"If it hadn't been for the quick actions and vigilance of our operatives on these occasions, then these near misses could have been extremely serious.”

Road Safety Week, an annual campaign organised by the road safety charity Brake, is running from 17 until 23 November.