Battery warning after another bin lorry fire

People are being warned about the dangers of not disposing of batteries correctly after another fire in a bin lorry happened in Warwickshire.

Emergency services were called to the fire on Lister Road in Atherstone on Friday with crews spending two hours to contain and extinguish it, North Warwickshire Borough Council said.

Each lorry costs £300,000 making "incidents like this both operationally disruptive and financially significant", the council added.

In January, a lorry was destroyed after a lithium battery dumped as part of a household's rubbish caught fire.

The council said that it is the third bin lorry fire in four months.

Councillor Margaret Bell, chair of community and environment board, added: "Incidents like this highlight just how dangerous it is to dispose of batteries and electrical items in your general waste.

"When crushed inside a bin lorry, batteries can easily ignite, putting our collection crews at serious risk and causing significant damage to our vehicles and disruption to our services.

"We cannot stress enough the importance of using the correct disposal methods. Please take batteries and electricals to designated collection points or your local recycling centre."

Batteries should be taken to designated collection points or Lower House Farm Recycling Centre and not put in public litter bins, general waste or recycling bins, the council added.

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