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Two bin men have been sacked after being filmed brawling in high-vis clothing with members of the public in Chatham.
Dramatic and disturbing scenes posted on social media show one worker being knocked to the floor unconscious yesterday at the junction of the High Street and Military Road, while another video shows a man in high-vis clothing waving chairs around and shouting aggressively.
Footage shows the men brawling in Chatham. Video by Alicia Martin
One bystander said one of the workers had been knocked to the floor but got back to his feet with blood dripping from his mouth and began shouting at people again.
Alicia Martin, who posted video of the incident, had been walking through the town centre at about 5pm when the fight started, and said it had been a frightening experience.
"I was walking down the High Street," she said. "They were bin men in their uniforms and the next thing they were taking chairs from outside Wetherspoons and trying to throw them at people.
"Everyone started running up the road, they grabbed chairs and were trying to throw them at everyone - even at me and the boy I was with.
"I was saying get away. It got to the middle of the High Street, and one of them got knocked out. I was like 'what the hell?' Straight afterwards the man got off the floor and started saying that he would have anyone. He kicked the metal barrier outside a shop.
"It was strange. I thought you don't normally go this mental in your uniform. It was a bit weird.
"I don't know why it started - everyone just started fighting. It was worrying - there were girls with prams and he's throwing chairs about.
"I don't know if they were on something or if they were drunk.
"I think it's getting worse to be honest - there's always stuff going on like this."
A staff member from a nearby business also said the men had grabbed chairs from the Thomas Waghorn pub in Railway Street, but added: "We didn't see all of it. They just rolled past here. They were fighting up near Halifax."
Medway Norse – the Medway Council-owned company which runs bin collections and street cleaning in Medway – have since confirmed the men have been dismissed from their roles, and the company is helping police enquiries.
Andy Mann, Operations Director for Medway Norse said: “We are absolutely appalled at the behaviour of the individuals involved in this incident and, while this took place outside of the working day, behaviour of this kind – particularly while representing Norse by wearing our uniform – will not be tolerated.
“We have taken immediate action and the individuals have today been dismissed from any role they held with us. One was fulfilling their six-month probation period, and the second was fulfilling a temporary agency role, so was not a direct employee of Norse.
“As we are also supporting the police investigation into the matter, it is inappropriate to comment further other than to say that, at this point in time, we understand that this incident centred around a family dispute.”
Police confirmed they were called at 5.11pm yesterday to a report of a disturbance in Chatham High Street.
They said officers attended but the offenders had already left the area and no suspects were identified.
