Meet The Locals

Del (aka Del Boy)

Derrick Shutt has worked as a roadsweeper in Orpington for the last eight years, and has previously worked for the last 15 years in the profession including places like Bromley and Beckenham. He lives in Abbey Wood and cycles to work on his electric bicycle to get the job he loves done.

What does you job entail Del?

We work on a shift system and there are three of us keeping the roads of Orpington High Street and beyond clean. My shift is 1pm-10pm, while Neil and Rob do shifts so that we cover Orpington around the clock.

What’s changed in Orpington for the better/worse?

It’s tricky at the moment given the lockdown situation, but Orpington has gone a bit downhill at times in the past, but always manages to pick up again around Christmas and the High Street gets packed. There are some nice people in the community and really nice shop owners. What’s been great lately is that over lockdown a lot of shop owners and restaurant and café owners have been doing up their shops. Some of the cafes are unbelievable inside and that’s lovely to see. I do wish we could introduce drinking taps along the High Street though. They have them in Welling and it’s worked well.

What do you like most about your job?

I like to talk to people and I get some lovely comments from some really nice people. The best bit is being thanked and feeling proud that I’ve helped keep Orpington clean and safe. It’s very hard to keep the high street clean, so when you receive thanks from people, it’s lovely to hear.

Do you feel there’s a good community spirit in Orpington?

Look, you’re always going to get your troublemakers – the bad ones as I call them and it’s not just the kids. But the majority of people are keen to keep the peace in Orpington and want to look after our community spaces and this includes putting rubbish in the designated bins along the high street.

If you could introduce a new shop to the high street, what would it be?

An art and crafts shop. People could go in, have a cup of tea or sandwich or cake and they can do arts and crafts in there. I think Orpington would do well having one of those.

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