Rotting rubbish was not collected for 11 weeks after binmen 'got stroppy' claim residents on Milton Keynes estate

Residents in a block of flats on a city estate have been left with a pile of rotting rubbish after binmen kicked up a stink and refused to collect it, they claim.

The families live in housing association apartments in Galapagos Grove on Newton Leys and share a communal bin shed.

There are separate huge skip-style bins for general rubbish and recycling and these have always been emptied weekly.

A spokesman for the tenants said: "There’s space on the floor of the shed and we have an arrangement with our housing association that we can put larger items, such as bits of furniture, on the floor and the association will come and collect them and dispose of them every so often.”

But last September, this arrangement sparked a remarkable saga with the council’s refuse contractors Serco – and it culminated in a massive rubbish mountain.

MK City Council has confirmed they are looking into any breakdown in communication in a bid to mend relations and ensure residents get the ‘right level of service’.

"It was really silly,” a spokesman for the residents. “There were a couple of larger items in the shed, as usual, waiting for collection by the housing association. For some reason one of the binmen got really cross about it and dragged them out so they were blocking the entrance.”

The residents complained – but this immediately prompted bitter relations, they claim.

"​On bin collection days workers would get really stroppy. They’d pick certain things up and smash them in anger. We watched as they did it,” said the spokesman, who claims to have video footage of a worker smashing up a bathroom shelf unit and leaving it on the ground.

"The worker then started to write on the items that we’d be charged for fly tipping, although we couldn’t be, as the items were on private property. It just seemed really petty and stupid.

"But the worst thing was that they stopped emptying our general rubbish bins and our recycling. More and more rubbish was piling up every week. There’s a lot of families here with young children so there were loads of nappies. It’s disgusting.”

Tenants say they complained numerous times to the council about it but nothing was done.

"Eleven weeks went by and it became a real health hazard. The bin shed is full of flies because of all the rotting rubbish,” said the spokesman for residents.

"I’m sure there are maggot and rats too.”

Because they could no longer fit binbags in the skip, tenants were throwing in items individually, and this allegedly upset Serco.

But last week, one hero tenant donned rubber gloves and painstakingly emptied the bins to neatly bag up all of the rotting rubbish for collection.

"He deserves a medal! We’re really hoping Serco will agree to collect it now. They have no excuse,” said the spokesman for residents.

The Citizen asked MK City Council if the rubbish could finally be collected and if the dispute with Serco could be resolved.

A spokesman said: “We are looking into this and will make sure any breakdown in communication between our partners is fixed so residents get the right level of service.”