Thursday, February 3, 2011

Serco: a corporation that can't even clean up dog shit

Serco, the multinational corporation, and its supporters in the Barnett Government, reckon that it can run public services here in WA (like Fiona Stanley Hospital) better than any one else because they blend a commercial focus with a "deep public service ethos". (Earlier posts on Serco can be found here)

Tell that to the residents of Cradeley Heath in the UK who are furious about Serco's supposed "deep public sector ethos".

Serco can't even clean up dog shit in the local parks.This piece is from the Halesowen News . But what I really love is the quote by the Serco manager. Priceless.
The dog litter bins at Corngreaves Nature Reserve and Haden Hill Park were not emptied leaving dog walkers and park lovers holding their nose as they went for a walk.

Maxine Tranter was furious with the lack of action in the nature reserve. She said: “ I have been trying to get the dog waste bins at Corngreaves Nature Reserve emptied for the past two weeks. I phoned Sandwell Council and I was told that it was an ongoing problem since the contracting out of the waste collection services to Serco last November.

She added: “Mike Boult, Serco's Managing Director, promised 'a step change in the quality of services delivered to the residents of Sandwell'.
“There has certainly been a step change in the collection of the dog waste bins, at Haden Hill Park, Corngreaves Nature Reserve, and the ones in the surrounding roads, but not for the better.”
Sandwell Council and Serco signed a multi-million pound 25-year deal on the basis that the private company would improve waste services. Serco, which makes millions of pounds out of delivering public services for councils and the NHS, promised action would be taken. 
A Serco spokesman said:
“We can confirm that recently a limited number of dog bins on the Congreaves Nature Reserve were not emptied to the standard we would normally expect from this service.
“The resources deployed on this service have now been reviewed and increased to ensure this situation does not occur again, and we would like to apologise to residents for any inconvenience caused by the unavailability of disposal facilities.
“We envisage that all dog bins across the borough should be emptied and back to the regular cleansing schedule.”

1 comment:

Michael D. Breen said...

Has anyone thought to ask Fiona Stanley if she is comfortable with her name being connected with a hospital run by Sirco?