Kirklees Council is remaining tight lipped after bin collection staff failed to complete their rounds.

The Examiner reported over the weekend claims that bin staff had “walked out” in a row over working hours.

Councillors have only been told that the problems were caused by “significant operational difficulties.”

It is currently unclear whether bin workers have walked out in an unauthorised ‘wildcat strike’ or have been unable to finish for other reasons.

The council has so far not been able to say how many people were involved in the incident – that left about 4,000 bins un-emptied.

This morning, neither of the large trade unions, Unite or Unison, were aware of the issue.

Grey bins remain unemptied on the streets around Thongsbridge.

Clr Musarrat Khan, cabinet member responsible, told the Examiner an investigation had been launched.

She said she could not say more until they had established what had happened.

She said: “A small number of staff did not complete their day’s work and so caused disruption to the service and to residents.

“This meant a number of grey bins were not collected in Holme Valley and green bins were missed in the Colne Valley area.

“Those staff are now being taken through our own internal processes.

“Teams are out working as normal today and collections will be caught up and back to normal in the next couple of days.”