‘Rubbish left uncollected for seven weeks’, says Fairlight resident

Charlotte Robinson, of Chick Hill, Fairlight, said the overflowing bins and rubbish had attracted rats, making the area outside her property a mess.

She said: “I can’t stand it anymore. My children have come from Boston in the USA to visit and they were greeted by the mess. It’s really distressing.

“My bins were not been collected and emptied for seven weeks.

“Other neighbours have had the same problem with their collections.

“The rubbish in the bins has been exploding all over the place in the last few weeks as they were full to the gunnels.

“There have been massive rats everywhere the size of cats and I’ve had to use rat poison and now there are rats’ bodies everywhere.

“There were also flies everywhere, which was disgusting.”

Mrs Robinson, who is registered blind following a stroke, said she had to clear the mess up herself after the bin collectors finally arrived on Tuesday (June 23).

She is blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other, she told the Observer.

Mrs Robinson, who lives on her own, said she reported the bin problem to Rother District Council ahead of Tuesday’s collection but claimed at one point she was kept waiting on the phone for four hours in frustration.

Brenda Mason, service manager at Rother District Council, told the Observer: “We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to Mrs Robinson.

“The contractor has now collected the bins and we will continue to monitor the resident’s waste collections.

“A change to the service introduced on June 1 has caused some short-term disruption, and we are working closely with the contractor to ensure any issues are addressed as quickly as possible.

“We would urge anyone with a missed bin collection to report it as soon as possible online at www.rother.gov.uk to enable a collection to be made.”

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