PENDLE residents are jamming a council hotline with complaints about the borough's new fortnightly waste collection service, it was claimed today.

Council bosses claim the new recycling scheme, which came into force last week, is a success - but opposition councillors and Pendle MP Gordon Prentice say they have been inundated with phone calls and letters about problems.

Labour Coun Mohammed Iqbal said: "In certain streets the council has told people to wheel full bins up the street to a collection point, and then it's their responsibility to collect them again, but how can they expect elderly and disabled people to do that?

"Coun John David says they have done all this consultation, but Joe Public is saying 'what consultation?'

"People are used to a weekly rubbish collection, and to switch to a fortnightly one without educating them first is wrong."

Meanwhile Mr Prentice said he has raised concerns with Pendle Council's chief executive Stephen Barnes.

He said: "My office has received letters and calls about problems arising from the new waste collection system.

"People say they haven't been informed enough and have had difficulty getting an answer on the contact number."

Pendle Council say the helpline is 'getting very busy' and extra staff have been drafted in.

The council's executive member for the environment, Coun David, said: "With such a massive undertaking, there have been a few difficulties and whilst small in the big picture, the council recognises that they are very important to individual residents. They are all being sorted out."