Rubbish piles up in big chill

Thousands of homes will go six weeks without bin collections as freezing temperatures continue to wreak havoc across the West Midlands.

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Recycling rubbish is set to mount to unprecedented levels after collections were abandoned two weeks after runs on December 24 and 25 were called off due to holidays.

In Wolverhampton householders have been told they will not have their green boxes and white bags, containing glass, tins, paper and plastics, emptied until January 22 or 23 - a month and a half after they were last taken.

In Walsall and Cannock, where thousands of households have gone without collections this week because of the bad weather, council chiefs pledged double collections would take place - when the roads were safe enough. Homes across Stafford that went without collections have been told they must wait until their next pick-up.

It came as a furious mum of three was left with a mountain of rubbish on her West Bromwich doorstep, after binmen abandoned their rounds due to the cold.

Lisa Kempster, 29, an accounts assistant of Attwell Road, was horrified when refuse collectors piled the whole street's rubbish outside her house for collection - then went home.

"There are dirty nappies, rotting food, and now the bags have started to burst open and it is all over the road," she said.

Councillor Mahboob Hussain at Sandwell Council apologised and said street cleaners would be out in force this weekend.

The bad weather will continue over the weekend and into next week with the Met Office forecasting more snow in Birmingham and parts of South Staffordshire.

By Colin Drury