A ROW over rubbish has left Boscombe residents with a waste mountain on their doorstep.

Residents of a block of flats in Sea Road claim they have not had a rubbish collection for several weeks, with the result that their bin store is now packed from floor to ceiling.

Bournemouth council says it cleared the backlog at 5.30am on Thursday. It says it has evidence to show the rubbish built up over three weeks rather than the seven claimed by residents.

The council says it was unable to empty the bin because of the bin bags surrounding it and it intends to bill the landlord for part of the clean-up.

Yellow Bus driver Danny Cogan, who lives at the block with his wife Stacey and their two children, said the rubbish wasn’t cleared yesterday.

“We initially went two weeks without a collection, I don’t know what the reason for that was, we were never told,” he said.

“Then, because the bin was full, everybody started leaving bags of rubbish on the ground and the council then said they would only come and empty the bin if we moved all the rubbish first.

“I said surely that’s a bin man’s job but they then said I could be reported for fly-tipping. It would almost be funny if it wasn’t so disgusting, we just want the service we are meant to get.”

He added: “In terms of a health hazard we can’t fit anything in there and we’ve been told by the council about fly tipping if we leave bags outside – from that point of view it’s a health hazard.

“There are a lot of kids in the flats so there must be a lot of dirty nappies in there by now.”

Gary Briggs, refuse operations manager at the council, said: “There is a history of contamination and waste being left on the floor at this location.

“We are working with the managing agents and landlord to solve the problem but without clear access to wheel the bins out to the vehicle we are unable to make normal collections.

“Crews do not have time or equipment to clear up loose and spilling bags of waste just to gain access to large bins when on normal scheduled rounds.”