Residents and the council have urged people to park more responsibly after workers were unable to access a Blackburn estate.

Refuse collectors could not access a section of Hare Clough Close, off Bennington Street, on Wednesday. It was not the first time residents have not had their bins collected in an almost ongoing weekly battle.

A resident, who lives on the close, said it was unfair on householders who had been forced to ensure weeks without collections of some bins.

The woman, who did not wish to named, said: “We have had cases where overflowing bins have not been moved for days.

“We are not sure what we can do. The people who park there should know better as the rest of the residents are suffering.

“We called the council and they said their teams cannot access the street. You can’t have bins overflowing like this.

“They said we should put the rubbish in bags and then these can be taken but we will just get rats and the bags will be ripped up.”

Lancashire Telegraph:

In a letter to residents, the council admitted that it could not always access the homes and ‘alternative methods of collection which may include collection points’ may be considered.

The council said crews did return a number of times to pick up the bins on Wednesday.

Head of environment at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Tony Watson, said: "Our crews could not access parts of Hare Clough Close on 24 January due to parked cars which restricted access for our refuse collection vehicles.

"On this particular day, our crews visited on three separate occasions at 7.10am, 8.15am and again at 1pm but access was not permitted. 

“Residents were given lilac sacks to tide them over until the next collection along with a letter to advise of the issues. 

“Collections have continued as normal from this location though our vehicle often has to return at various points during the day to test for access. 

“Collections have been successful on the second attempt today (Wednesday, March 20) after parked cars have been removed."

In a letter to residents, the council said: “Access to collect the bins has been restricted due to parked vehicles on the pavement and particularly on the sharp corner between blocks 1-11 and 2-12. 

“Our RCV requires room to manoeuvre, to enable it to access the streets where your bins are presented.

“The space to manoeuvre the vehicle has been hindered by this parking over the past few months. 

“We’d be grateful if residents and their guests could give consideration to where they are parking, particularly on Wednesdays only, so that the crew access the street and empty your bins as scheduled. 

“If access is repeatedly not provided, as it has been recently, we may need to look into alternative methods of collection which may include collection points.”