RESIDENTS who have not had their recycling bins collected on several occasions have sent a petition to a council.

Around 40 homes in Azalea Road and two homes in Granville Road, Blackburn, have been affected with people saying their bins have not been collected on and off since July.

Mohammed Adams, who has lived on Azalea Road for 20 years, said the problem was getting bad.

He said: “It’s disgusting, there’s rats in the back alleys and rubbish was left everywhere.

“We’ve had this ongoing problem for months.

“I spoke to one of the binmen and they said they couldn’t clear the bins because of access, but there was nothing blocking the way.

“There is an issue on the roads with parking, there’s also unwanted litter blowing into my garden and other people’s gardens.”

Another Azalea Road resident, Amir Jasat, said: “Residents are worn down by this now and want it resolving.

“It has improved slightly very recently, but a few months ago it was horrendous."

Residents said rubbish has built up in the back streets and they have been told by Blackburn with Darwen Council the bins were not collected due to lack of access because of the way cars are parked on the road.

A spokesman for the residents said this was not the case and cars have not been parked on the road on collection day and bags were still left on the side.

The spokesman said: “The continuous missed collection of bins has and will continue to result in the rise of vermin and waste in alleyways, a problem that cannot afford to escalate any more than it already has.

“As residents we feel deeply distressed and concerned with this frequent occurrence and we will not tolerate such behaviour of the council workers in deliberately leaving the grey bins.”

In a report sent to the council, contractor Biffa, which is responsible for collecting the rubbish, had logged four occasions of no access to bins, as well as more than 100 incidents of contaminated bins – which includes incorrect waste being put into recycling bins.

The report shows Biffa cannot always use narrow-bodied vehicles to get to the street.

Its waste disposal and kerbside collection contracts, worth more than £6.2million per year, runs out in April. From May the council will take over the work and it has ordered a new fleet of narrow-bodied vehicles to use.

A council spokesman said: “The recommended action is to remind residents what to place in their grey bin, ensure Biffa collection crews wheel the bins to their vehicles if they cannot drive it down the road, as well as asking customers to move their wheelie bins to a collection point.” The report will be discussed by the council executive board on Thursday.