A COUNCIL has been forced to apologised after a video showing a mechanical road sweeper failing to pick up litter in an Accrington street was viewed hundreds of times on social media.

Neighbours claim they were forced to pick up the litter in Bath Street themselves after it was left there for more than a week.

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Kevin Carroll, who shared the CCTV footage, said residents had filled 12 sacks with litter.

The video, filmed on Tuesday, shows the mechanical sweeper moving along the street but not picking up any of the numerous bottles littering the pavement.

It can also be seen flicking one bottle to the other side of the road. Hyndburn Council has apologised and said they would be speaking to the driver and taking any appropriate action in due course.

Sarah Clark, who lives on nearby Hight Street, then took measures into her own hands by cleaning up the litter , which had been there for ‘more than a week’, with her partner, Philip Gleave.

However she was left ‘frustrated’ at the lack of accountability that the council had after leaving the problem unattended.

Miss Clark, 34, said: “There’s no accountability for the council, if we don’t pay our council tax we get warnings, letters and fines, but what happens to them when they don’t deliver?

“The litter had been there for about a week, it has been a bit of a blackspot for litter in the area. We are just fed up. It’s not just one incident, you see rubbish lying around throughout the borough. It’s really frustrating.”

“It was just an eyesore, empty bags had been had been blown about all over.” Miss Clark collected the litter and put it all in rubbish bags, which were collected by the council on Thursday.

Cllr Munsif Dad, ward councillor for the area, who contacted residents after seeing the video on social media, urged people with problems to contact their local representatives.

He said: “We’ve got issues with rubbish throughout the area, whether that be with flytipping or recycling bags, which looks to have caused the problems here by being blown about.

“I’m happy to help anyone in the area with these sort of problems if they contact me, and I’d urge them to do so. It’s about the council and residents working together.”

Hyndburn Council has accepted that the cleaning was not up to standard and will be looking into the incident.

A council spokesman said: “Obviously the mechanical sweeping in Bath Street was not up to the usual high standard and of course we will be speaking with the driver and taking any appropriate action in due course.”

“We would like to apologise and thank the resident who assisted in litter picking the footpath.”