The company responsible for taking away rubbish across Wycombe has been forced to pay more than £220,000 in penalties for missed collections in the past three years, it has been revealed – as the council comes to the end of its agreement with the business. 

Wycombe District Council raked in £226,000 from waste company Serco this year after the company was sanctioned for missed collections. 

The sum relates to a number of fines imposed on the business over the last “three or four years”, finance chief Cllr David Watson has said. 

Missed collections across the district have made headlines over the years, with complaints made by members of the public to the Bucks Free Press as recent as March this year.

In that case, recycling and rubbish was not collected for around six weeks, according to frustrated resident Hayley Hall, who lives in Malmers Well Road in High Wycombe – with the bin area turning into a “haven for vermin”. 

At the time, the council apologised and said they would investigate why two previous reports about missed collections were not acted on and said they would work with the contractors to “make improvements”. 

Cllr Watson said council officers have been chasing Serco for penalty payments “for some time”, adding: “Thanks to much persistence, we managed to persuade Serco to part with the money.”

The news comes as the district council prepares to start looking at a new waste contract for future years. 

Currently, Wycombe and Chiltern District Councils have a joint waste contract with Serco, while South Bucks has a contract with Biffa – but both contracts are due to end by 2021. 

The three councils are now looking at setting up a three-way joint contract in a bid to save money.

It has not yet been confirmed if Serco will continue to provide the waste collection, but Cllr Rafiq Raja questioned whether the company should be considered due to previous problems with the service. 

Cllr Julia Adey responded: “The problems we had were a couple of years back. They are running fairly well now.

"You will always have the odd missed bin here and there across the district.”