A ROADBLOCK row has led to foul-smelling rubbish bags being left in a back street at the mercy of marauding dogs and cats.

The animals have ripped open the abandoned bags, leaving food leftovers and even a string of raw sausages stinking in the heat.

Mr John Foll, who is convalescing after a heart attack in Glenfield Road, Nelson, said: "It's the third or fourth week recently this has happened here. They're supposed to collect the bags the same day every week. "

But a spokeswoman for Pendle Council said the refuse collectors' wagon was being stopped from getting into the back street, behind the terrace houses, because residents' parked vehicles blocked the way.

"The men can't heave the heavy bags the length of the street. Theyneed a clear passage, " she said. Glendale Road is about 100 yards long, she added.

Mr Foll, who is being cared for following his heart attack by friend Mrs Nora Foster at Glenfield Road, said there was a bakehouse two doors away and they had to leave out lots of rubbish. "There were 28 bags in the back street, and the stink was appalling.

"There was a string of raw sausages lying there.

"The problem is cats and dogs rip the bags open, and then they just keep coming back to the smell of food," he added.

Mr Foll said the council had been quick to write to residents about rubbish bags being put out a day early. "But they just leave them, " he complained.

The Pendle Council spokeswoman confirmed that if the parking problem continued letters would be sent to the Glenfield Road residents asking them to co-operate on the days the rubbish was due to be collected.

"Some people don't give a thought for the bin crew, lugging all those heavy bags around in the heat all day," she added.

The 28 bags at the centre of the row have now been removed.