A troubled skip hire company has been threatened with enforcement following a flood of complaints about uncollected containers.

Kirklees Council has written to Hunter Group advising the Lockwood-based company to remove a giant skip from land off Marsh Lane, Shepley – or face enforcement action.

The container, hired for Shepley Spring Festival, had been on the land since the middle of May.

The firm claims the delay – and delays on other collections – had been caused by a fire at Hunter Group’s Bradford depot in June.

A Kirklees Council spokesperson said: “We have contacted the company it belongs to and have advised that if they do not remove it soon we will have to consider further action which could include a notice requiring its removal...

“The council will only get involved when all attempts to get the skip moved have failed and the skip is having a negative impact on the environment.”

Read more: Huddersfield skip company Hunter Group branded 'garbage' after failing to collect full containers

Organisers of the festival are not unique in their dissatisfaction with Hunter Group, which also trades as Huddersfield Skip Hire.

Since running our first story about the company last month, the Examiner has had numerous complaints from individuals and businesses battling to get the company to collect its skips from their properties.

Kirkburton councillor John Taylor has received complaints about Hunter Group from residents across Huddersfield.

Clr John Taylor inspects skips not collected from Shepley Festival, Marsh Lane, Shepley.

Clr Taylor said: “I’m getting people on a daily basis contacting me and it’s the same story every time. They’ve been waiting two months and getting the same promises.

“I’ve had eight people since the story ran and they’re saying they know people who have skips which are waiting to be collected.

“One lady in Dalton was telling me that she has a disabled daughter and it’s difficult to get her in the house because the skip is in the way.”

Wakefield-based flooring company West Yorkshire Decking said one of its customers had been waiting since February for Hunter Group to collect the skip.

Company secretary Emma Kennett said: “We just don’t know what to do. We don’t want to pay them because we’re not getting a service.”

Hunter Group skip hire, Queen's Mill Road, Huddersfield.

One Kirkburton resident, who did not want to be named, added: “The skip was there for nine weeks – five weeks after it should have been collected.

“The service was nonexistent.”

Hunter Group director Sam Hunter said a backlog had been caused by a fire at the company’s Bradford depot, in June.

Mr Hunter said: “We’ve had to divert the waste into Huddersfield and maybe that has been jeopardising some of our collections.

“We’ve got 10 wagons on the road all day, every day, just for domestic skips...

“We had 60 skips outstanding last week and we’ve collected 20 on Saturday. As far as we’re aware there’s not so many outstanding already.”

Mr Hunter added there would be ‘major changes’ at the company.