RESIDENTS of a block of flats have been left disgusted after a huge pile up of rubbish was ignored by bin men for more than month.

More than 20 black bin bags were stacked on top of each other outside flats in Hartington Street, Dalton, after tenants ran out of room to place their rubbish in bins provided by the council.

Despite the building being home to six flats housing more than 10 people, only four bins have been provided by Barrow Borough Council for the entire block.

Anthony Fisher, 68, suffers from lung disease and has a crumbling spine, meaning that a cleaner, who comes round once a week, has to take his rubbish downstairs for him.

He thinks that other people have started dumping their rubbish on the pile after seeing as as some kind of makeshift tip.

Mr Fisher said: "It is terrible and what annoys me the most is that they wrote a letter to every tenant about this overflowing rubbish but I don't think most of it is ours - it has been dumped there by other people.

"I don't come down here often but it's not very nice. It has always been quite bad here with rubbish but the bin men have always taken it away with them. Usually there might be about two or three extra bags but now there are 20 to 30 which have piled up over the last month.

Father Charles Anderson, 63, who is a priest for Yeshua International, lives on the bottom floor of the block with his 38-year-old American wife Monia.

Mrs Anderson suffers from Guillain–Barré syndrome which has left her bed-bound. Her husband also struggles with arthritis and tendonitis and has three trapped nerves in his spine.

The pair have a carer who comes round to sort out their rubbish and Mr Anderson has tried to campaign for a large recycling skip instead of four dustbins.

He said: "It has been a nightmare. We have been having years of problems with the council about our rubbish; recycling is a huge joke here."

Colin Garnett, Barrow Borough Council's assistant director for housing issued a statement. He said: "If people do have excessive rubbish that they need removing the council does have a line they can ring to make a special collection and we will come and remove it for them.

"If people experience fly-tipping in the area they should ring up and we will investigate it. In this particular place I understand arrangements have been made to remove the rubbish which is at the council's expense because they are not aware of who has put it there.

"If people fly-tip we will try and identify the culprits. Hartington Street is a very nice area and it is very disappointing that people are fly-tipping there."

According to Mr Fisher, the rubbish had been removed by Monday morning.

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