KIRKLEES binmen left bags of rubbish on a Huddersfield street for a week.

Council workers were supposed to collect rubbish from houses on Sharp Lane, Almondbury, on Thursday last week.

Binmen walked ahead of their lorry and took full bags of rubbish out of bins from houses on the road.

They left 12 bags in the middle of the road to be thrown on the bin lorry.

However, the bags were not picked up and they remained in the middle of the road.

Sharp Lane resident Susan Bedforth rang Kirklees to ask if the bags could be collected.

She was told it would be done the next day - but no-one turned up.

Pensioner Mrs Bedforth and her neighbour had to move all the bags from the middle of the road to the side of her gate so that cars could use the road.

Despite Mrs Bedforth constantly phoning the council, nothing was done about the bags until yesterday - when the binmen arrived for their usual collection round.

Mrs Bedforth said she was unhappy with the council's response. She said: "By the time the bags were picked up, a fox or rats or something had got into them and the rubbish was spread all over.

"I am not very impressed.

"The binmen are extremely nice. I'm not getting at them.

"They can only go where they are told.

"There is something lacking in Kirklees Council's system for collecting rubbish.

"They are the first to prosecute for fly-tipping or dropping litter - but they left rubbish in the middle of the road for a week.

"I pay a lot of council tax and I feel that, sometimes, the services just aren't delivered."

A Kirklees spokeswoman said the delay in collecting the rubbish had been the result of an administration error.

She added: "We apologise to the residents affected."