Gas canister explodes in lorry
A gas canister crushed in a waste collection lorry sounded like a bomb had gone off when it exploded.
Police descended on the lorry and residents came out of their homes after what was believed to be a helium balloon canister was placed in a kerbside recycling bin and emptied into the lorry on Friday.
After several bins had been loaded the compactor mechanism was activated to compress the waste to make room for more, as per normal, and the pressurised canister exploded.
The noise from the explosion brought householders in Wellesley Road, central ward, into the street to find out what had happened and a patrolling police car two streets away heard the noise and came to investigate.
The shocked and shaken waste operatives on the round were luckily uninjured by the explosion which they described as “sounding like a bomb had gone off”. The lorry had to be examined by engineers to see if any damage had been caused to the internal hydraulics system.
Weekly waste and recycling rounds, and the fortnightly green waste bin collection, are still operating to the normal timetable during the coronavirus public health crisis.
Josie Wragg, chief executive, said operatives are out on the streets of the borough on a daily basis as keyworkers and some lovely messages have been left on bins thanking our staff for their continued service during this emergency.
“However, their lives were put in danger by someone placing a gas canister in their bin against council guidelines.
“On this occasion, it was lucky that none of our operatives were injured by the blast and the lorry was not seriously damaged.
“Sometimes gas canisters are mistakenly placed in the bins when they should be taken to Chalvey Household Waste and Recycling Centre and we remind residents of the responsible way to dispose of them safely.
“The HWRC is currently closed to prevent unnecessary journeys during the lockdown, so we ask residents to keep items like gas canisters at home until it reopens.”
The gas canister was placed in a bin in the central area however, it is impossible to work out from which household the bin came from.
The advice is to keep household waste at home until the lockdown is relaxed and Chalvey HWRC is reopened to safely dispose of additional waste including gas canisters.
For more information about what can go in the black, red and green waste bins please refer to our website here - http://www.slough.gov.uk/recycling.
This is a picture of a gas canister disposed of incorrectly earlier this year.
Police descended on the lorry and residents came out of their homes after what was believed to be a helium balloon canister was placed in a kerbside recycling bin and emptied into the lorry on Friday.
After several bins had been loaded the compactor mechanism was activated to compress the waste to make room for more, as per normal, and the pressurised canister exploded.
The noise from the explosion brought householders in Wellesley Road, central ward, into the street to find out what had happened and a patrolling police car two streets away heard the noise and came to investigate.
The shocked and shaken waste operatives on the round were luckily uninjured by the explosion which they described as “sounding like a bomb had gone off”. The lorry had to be examined by engineers to see if any damage had been caused to the internal hydraulics system.
Weekly waste and recycling rounds, and the fortnightly green waste bin collection, are still operating to the normal timetable during the coronavirus public health crisis.
Josie Wragg, chief executive, said operatives are out on the streets of the borough on a daily basis as keyworkers and some lovely messages have been left on bins thanking our staff for their continued service during this emergency.
“However, their lives were put in danger by someone placing a gas canister in their bin against council guidelines.
“On this occasion, it was lucky that none of our operatives were injured by the blast and the lorry was not seriously damaged.
“Sometimes gas canisters are mistakenly placed in the bins when they should be taken to Chalvey Household Waste and Recycling Centre and we remind residents of the responsible way to dispose of them safely.
“The HWRC is currently closed to prevent unnecessary journeys during the lockdown, so we ask residents to keep items like gas canisters at home until it reopens.”
The gas canister was placed in a bin in the central area however, it is impossible to work out from which household the bin came from.
The advice is to keep household waste at home until the lockdown is relaxed and Chalvey HWRC is reopened to safely dispose of additional waste including gas canisters.
For more information about what can go in the black, red and green waste bins please refer to our website here - http://www.slough.gov.uk/recycling.
This is a picture of a gas canister disposed of incorrectly earlier this year.
