Threats and sabotage at Cityclean have ramped up again this year, helping to reverse improvements made since a landmark report into bullying there.
Scores of staff have left the council since the report was published in November 2023 – and the council says this figure could rise.
An update published today says refuse trucks have been sabotaged, managers’ car tyres have been slashed, threats have been made at managers homes, and a death threat made as recently as five months ago.
The council says the level of toxic behaviour is so high a dedicated team has even been set up to monitor and document suspicious activities.
It says: “Since January 2025, a significant setback in performance has occurred and there have been significant issues related to the reliability of the service which is compounded by paper-based systems and ageing fleet and equipment that has caused repeated vehicle defects.
“The service has also seen significant issues with staffing availability and increase in sickness and difficulties in securing agency staff because of council spending controls.
“Potentially some of the service issues may stem from intentional counter-cultural behaviours by a very small number of individuals and the service remains very alert to this. This includes sabotage of vehicles.
“Unfortunately, there has continued to be some toxic behaviours impacting the service, including ongoing sabotage of council vehicles, damage to managers’, who are involved in disciplinaries, property including twice slashing tyres, ongoing intimidatory acts both in the workplace and at managers’ homes and a death threat was made as recently as January 2025.
“Recent sabotage has of course been reported to the police and managed through the council’s disciplinary processes, where evidence exits.
“A team has been mobilised to monitor and document all suspicious activities taking significant time from other important service improvement work.”
More than 40 people have either been sacked, managed out or have chosen to leave since the report was published.
The report, by Aileen McColgan KC, found GMB union reps were aggressively protecting a small number of staff by bullying managers and other staff, and highlighted instances of racism, homophobia and misogyny.
This year, the council has recruited four more mechanics to get refuse trucks back on the road, and more drivers to combat short staffing.
Vehicles and older communal bins are also being replaced, and trucks fitted with technology that will both allow real-time round updates and redirect drivers if necessary to cut down on missed collections.
Council leader Bella Sankey said: “When the depth of bullying, intimidation, racism, misogyny and homophobia at the depot was exposed by the KC report, I promised colleagues and residents we would take a zero tolerance approach to this behaviour and begin the tough job of transforming our service into a high quality and reliable one.
“Our staff deserve a safe working environment free from intimidation and our residents deserve an excellent service and we will do everything necessary to deliver both.
“Because of the culture and systemic under-investment, long standing service development issues have not been prioritised. I’m really pleased to see we’re now in a place where they can be addressed.
“Ensuring we have a waste and recycling service that keeps our city clean, tidy and accessible is an absolute priority.”
Why are these criminals not in cells?
We pay their wages damit, start sacking them, no employer would ever dream of keeping these criminals in the job after gross misconduct and criminal behaviour. The entire city should prosecute each and every individual engaging in this unacceptable behaviour.
Plenty of migrants looking for work.
Start? sacking the troublemakers? Try reading the foregoing where it was stated that 40 have been got rid of.
Quite agree on giving jobs to legal immigrants who are willing to work.
GMB union chipping away at our society as per usual.
The 2023 KC report went into detail about both criminality at City Clean and made allegations of political interference – there should be zero tolerance on both the criminality and the type of political interference referred to in the report imo.
Feels like a missed opportunity that the council only focused on the criminality and didn’t commit to look further properly at the allegations made by the independent KC about a “high degree of interference from
politicians in disciplinary processes at City Clean”. It may be nothing, but if there’s even a shred of possibility that in the past people connected to criminality weren’t dealt with because they were “protected” in some way, (which the KC implies in their 2023 report (https://www.11kbw.com/content/uploads/McColgan-Brighton-report.pdf) – understanding why that was, so we can all be confident there is zero way it can happen again, would be good.
Given the level of criminality in the solicitors report and the ongoing offences why aren’t the police involved ?
BHCC is now run by a sort of Labour Politburo and City-Clean ruled by the GMB – who fund Labour . So who knows what the truth is ?
Th police have been involved !
The GMB know what the truth is. They should be investigated and culprits put in jail. And we should be getting rid of a Labour Council, though I will say Bella is doing what she can, but we don’t know how much they are in the unions pocket.
But let’s not forget Bella did the GMB offices during her election campaign, and will prob have benefitted from the donation GMB made towards councillors’ local election costs in 2023 as it went towards Labour Party leaflets etc.
If she agreed to investigating the alleged political interference that happened back around 2019 I’d prob think differently, but until current Labour councillors are prepared to properly look at issues alluded to in the KC report connected to councillors during a time period that fell under a prev Labour administration, then it feels like a lot of hot air rather than the complete transparency about any potential past failings on councillors’ part that residents deserve to know about.
Working practices have not kept pace with technology. We don’t need more managers or interfering politicians. What we need and demand is a waste service fit for purpose in the 21st century. That involves residents as well as proper enforcement of the rules, such as home businesses using communal or street bins. Most of the managers have never done the job and the investment has been woeful and misdirected. The unreliable fleet needs replacing but minor problems cause trucks to be taken off the road for things like loose mudflaps in the summer and the mechanics going to lunch together thus entire collections are missed. It’s not rocket science but the main endemic issues are idiotic management diktats instead of a policy of engagement.
I work there
The problem us not the staff!!!!!!
They get so frustrated because they cant supply a service to the residence of broghton and hove.
Thet get told to stop complaining
To go out in vehicles that are not fit for purpose
And to work in dangerous situations with dangerous bins
1 loader sliced the top of his finger 2 weeks ago
1 loader with a bad foot and in a lot of pain got told to man up and get on with his work
They send people out with little training
Its the managers
They have no management skills
They take no responsibility fo their failings but blame it on sabotage
There has been no sabotage issues, just them telling the mechanics too fix the vehicles as quick and cheap as possible
They order new vehicles that aernt up too the job or landscape we have
They make such bad financial decisions like selling the gritters we owned and renting different ones for 3 times the cost
They employe managers who dont look after the staff but they abuse them mentally, and thats all departments, from the toilet teams to the drivers
You get told that if you dont do as we tell you we will make your lives hell.
This problem is not the workers, its the people who are meant to look make sure they are safe and well.
So yjis blamomg the workers and lying about the sabotage needs too stop and the management need to be cleaned up
1. Lock gate on depot and take steps to effectively secure the internal footprint.
2. Employ security. 1 at all times on the gate with a mandatory check-in check out system. 1 patroling site in daylight hours. 2 at night.
3. Tell both staff & unions that nearly 2 years on from a KC report criminal activity affecting the site is still causing an unacceptable level of service disruption and financial costs to the taxpayers. The gate checks will help protect them as much as anything. If they don’t like it then place themselves the other side of the gate and the union will be held to account if any behaviours or actions are seen to be legally questionable.
4. Contract a WHOLLY INDEPENDENT site security, CCTV, alarm & access control company to be given full access to site to inspect and audit system and equipment. SUBMIT THIS TO THE COUNCIL.
5. Proactively engage with Brighton and Hove ( Sussex) Police to gain specific crime prevention advice & enquire about any additional resources and/or support they could provide.
6. Councillors and council employees to provide full and detailed explanation ON RECORD as to why inadequate CCTV etc was not in place. A full costing of the total £ in damages to property, equipment, facilities and infrastructure since the report was submitted by the KC along with a full disclosure of how much, for what and when was paid by both City clean and the council.
7. A thorough investigation and report ( made public) to fully establish who and where incompetence or malfeasance leading to both criminal acts and unjustified loss to the taxpayer.
8. A zero policy on persuing prosecution, conviction and court approved financial restitution in all cases where possible.
There you go. Done your job for you. Max outlay is iro £30-40k over 3 months. You CAN do ALL these things and you have a legal and statutory duty to protect local services, property and financial security.
If you don’t wanna get off your asses then it’ll be you at the council that we’ll be having the answers from whether you like it or not.
So I have it on good authority that mark turner was sacked from the council for his part in carrying out , defending and facilitating behaviours outlined in the KC report but the GMB took him back with open arms so is still pulling the strings. I guess it’s good our council tax is no longer paying for him but it does sum up the whole sorry affair. I hear the one with the weapons in the depot has started a petition to get his job back so i expect he will be jumping back aboard the GMB gravy train soon.
I’m afraid this ‘foot soldiers guilty – management innocent’ sob story won’t wash.
The middle and senior managers are almost all guilty to a degree of their own failings.
1) Employing friends and cronies
2) looking after their own
3) constantly scapegoating other lower paid staff
4) constantly harking back to a flawed KC report
5) ignoring the shambolic state of the fleet and site
If theere has been sabotage to property ,this is unacceptable, but hearing the management constantly blame anyone but themselves is akin to a scratched record. Management life can’t be that bad, most of them have been in position for years and all paid well in excess of £50k a year for a 37 5 hour week.
Where do I sign up?
I’m afraid this ‘foot soldiers guilty – management innocent’ sob story won’t wash.
Soldiers? Using language like that means you have to be GMB right?
I work here. There’s alot if favouritism going on and the managers hire friends and family so there will always be a conflict of interest. The reason that the old union leader got to work again is because the managers all retracted their statements because they know the court wouldn’t rule in their favor.. One of the managers even said in an email about someone “I hope he dies”. seems like the news outlets needs to come and properly speak to the staff then to just get a one sided story from the managers alone. There was also a full garden waste truck that has been left in the yard for about two weeks and ended up catching fire last week about 3 am. They are trying to say sabotage but anyone who does gardening/farming can tell you. Composting creates alot of heat especially if its been all locked up in a back of the lorry for 2 weeks. Again. The managers rather blame the workers then take accountability of their actions.
So why was Mark Turner sacked if all the managers withdrew their statements? I am assuming it was gross misconduct that the GMB are happy to turn a blind eye to?