SITA have graphically demonstrated and proved that which many of us (except councillors) knew and predicted before the relevant authority abdicated its control of refuse collection and street cleaning to an independent: That outsourcing essential services does not always work or improve performance.

Despite a golden opportunity to prove this was the right decision, SITA has merely blundered through pay differential disputes (which any intelligent organisation would have anticipated and resolved before takeover) and continues to prove on a daily basis it is incapable of getting manpower and vehicles on the streets to collect rotting rubbish.

There were occasional problems when the authority ran the service, but in the main it worked well. As the saying goes: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I wonder how many councillors now regret the decision to outsource, which no doubt was solely influenced by perceived financial gain.

-Brian Hammond, Mile Oak, Portslade