A drive to recruit bin lorry drivers in Aberdeen has paid off.
Councillors expressed concern last October that Aberdeen City Council was supposed to have 60 light goods vehicle drivers within its waste and recycling services – but had 14 vacancies.
The situation was so bad the council admitted it was having to rely on agency workers to keep the service running.
However, a recruitment campaign appears to have solved the problem, according to a new council report.
It said: “As at September 2019, the number of driver vacancies has vastly reduced and the number of applicants for vacant posts has increased.
“The service has been running with an average of four to six driver vacancies which is considered to be a ‘normal’ turnover rate of staff for a service of this size and nature.
“This is the lowest vacancy level the service has had for several years.”
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Explaining the turnaround, the report added: “Following the press coverage at the end of 2018, an unprecedented level of interest was received for driver vacancies.
“The high-profile story in the press last year made a significant difference to the interest in the light goods vehicle vacancies in the service.”
Other things that helped include increased social media promotion and more opportunities for job transfer from within the council.
To keep the numbers high the council will continuously advertise to recruit candidates ahead of new vacancies coming up, the report said.
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