Electrical faults grounded much of Reading's 13 electric bin lorries last week. Now the bank holiday moves every collection a day later, Friday to Saturday.

Reading Borough Council grounded a large part of its electric bin lorry fleet last week after electrical faults, and it now runs into a bank holiday week in which every collection moves a day later anyway.

The council announced the faults on Wednesday 27 August. It said it had taken “the precautionary decision to temporarily stand down the impacted electric vehicles while investigations are carried out”, brought spare diesel lorries out to cover, and expected missed collections to be caught up by Saturday 29 August (Reading Borough Council, 27 August 2026).

The council has published nothing since, so we cannot confirm every missed round was caught up on Saturday as planned.

This week: everything a day later

Monday 31 August is the summer bank holiday (GOV.UK). Reading’s standing rule in a bank holiday week is that collections take place one day later than normal, and the week’s final collections are done on the Saturday so nothing carries over (council guidance).

Chart showing Reading bin collection days shifting one day later during the week of 31 August 2026
How the bank holiday shifts collection days in Reading. Source: Reading Borough Council.

So for the week beginning Monday 31 August:

  • a normal Monday collection moves to Tuesday 1 September
  • Tuesday moves to Wednesday 2 September
  • Wednesday moves to Thursday 3 September
  • Thursday moves to Friday 4 September
  • Friday moves to Saturday 5 September

The rule covers everything the council empties, food waste and the paid-for garden waste service included. Your own dates are on the council’s bin calendar, which is the authoritative source because rounds vary by address. Our Reading bin collection days page has the rule, the charges and the tip opening hours in one place.

The fleet behind it

Reading put Berkshire’s first all-electric waste collection vehicle on the road in 2021. It was doing about 1,400 collections a day and 8,000 miles a year, saving 32,200kg of greenhouse gas emissions against a diesel equivalent, and the council said at the time it would replace six more 26-tonne diesel lorries with electric ones within a year and the remaining six within three (Reading Borough Council, September 2021).

The fleet is now 13 electric vehicles, bought under the Council Carbon Plan 2020-25. In last week’s statement the council said that “being an early adopter of the carbon conscious vehicles brings with it some issues with first generation technology”, and that the manufacturer is working on both immediate fixes and a long-term solution.

The council’s leader was blunter. Cllr Liz Terry said: “I understand residents’ discontent when there is a delay to waste services. While I support services to become more environmentally conscious, the repeated issues caused by the vehicles is unacceptable.”

The word to note there is “repeated”. What the council has not published is how many of the 13 vehicles were stood down last week, how often the fleet has failed before, or what the fixes have cost. None of it is on the public record.

What it means for you

  • Put the bin out on the shifted day this week, not your normal day. A Friday round becomes Saturday 5 September.
  • If it is not collected, leave it out. That is the council’s own advice: bins are picked up during extended collection hours rather than left for the next cycle.
  • Report a genuinely missed bin through the council’s missed collection form rather than assuming it will be spotted.
  • Check the calendar, not a printed list. The council rebuilt its rounds in June 2025 and said almost every household would see a change to its collection day, week or both, so an old schedule pinned to the fridge may already be wrong (Reading Borough Council).

Sources: Reading Borough Council, 27 August 2026; Reading Borough Council, September 2021; GOV.UK bank holidays. Checked 30 August 2026.