Body found in back of Biffa RCV

The vehicle is thought to have been collecting commercial waste from a yard and the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the body were described by police so far as “unexplained”.

The Metropolitan Police told letsrecycle.com that they were called to the scene at 5.30 am this morning and that a man was pronounced dead at the scene.

In a police statement, a spokesperson said: “Police were called at approximately 05:35hrs on Monday 24 February to reports of a man’s body found in the rear of a bin lorry in Bethwin Road, SE5. Officers and London Ambulance Service attended. The man – no further details – was pronounced dead at the scene.”

The police added: “At this stage, the death is being treated as unexplained. Enquiries into the circumstances continue.”

After the discovery of the body, the vehicle was being kept in a commercial yard, from which police were keeping the public, beneath some railway arches on Bethwin Road, where the body was found.

At around 2.15pm today, the lorry left the yard, accompanied by a police escort and a separate Biffa-branded van, about nine hours after the body was discovered.

Ambulance

The London Ambulance Service said it was called to the scene at 5.39 this morning.

A spokesperson said: “We sent an ambulance crew, an advanced paramedic, a medic in a car and an incident response officer to the scene. We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance trauma team in a car.

“Sadly, a man was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Rough sleeping

The Camberwell body has been found on a day when waste management company Biffa released a report on the dangers of people sleeping in bins (see letsrecycle.com story), although at this stage the circumstances surrounding the death remain unexplained. At least seven people are known to have died while sleeping in bins in the past five years, according to data from the Health and Safety Executive.

A spokesperson for Biffa said today: “We can confirm that a body was discovered in a Biffa vehicle early this morning in South London.

“We are working with the relevant authorities as they investigate the matter. We cannot comment any further at this stage.”