AN agency worker has been dismissed after racially abusing a member of the public at Colchester Recycling Centre.

Contractor Veolia, which runs the facility on behalf of Essex County Council, sacked the member of staff after launching an investigation on Sunday morning.

Ade Dehinbo made an official complaint to the local authority following the incident at the Maldon Road facility.

Mr Dehinbo was disposing of some household waste when a member of staff called him a racist slur.

He said: "I had a little red wheelie bin which I was using to put the items in before dumping them.

"I dumped a set of stuff and walked down the steps to the bin.

"One of the workers came bounding up the steps and said I could not do that.

"A member of staff started having a go at me saying the waste needed to be separated but it was the general waste bin.

"I started walking down the steps and an employee turned around to me and said 'you n*****."

Two other members of the public witnessed the incident, and Mr Dehinbo went to see the manager of the site to report what happened.

He said: "Staff ushered me away from the operative who said it and myself and one witness went to speak to the general manager of the site.

"I spoke to the manager and he said he was an agency worker and he would not be coming back to work."

Mr Dehinbo, who has lived in Colchester for most of his life, said the incident left him feeling embarrassed.

"It is not right in any walk of life to do that," he said.

"I have broad shoulders but it is really really sad that people who work for a local authority service can think like that.

"Do not get me wrong people everywhere have racist opinions, that is a fact of life, but to be vocal about them like this when you're in a position like that is wrong.

"Attitudes have improved a lot and it doesn't happen much but to see someone being so vocal about their racist views is awful."

Essex County Council said it was aware of the incident and was investigating.

A spokesman for Veolia said: "We are aware of an incident involving the use of inappropriate language by a temporary member of staff at our Recycling Centre for Household Waste in Colchester.

"Such behaviour is not tolerated and the member of staff involved has been dismissed."