WINEWALL residents were left fuming when a skip for a planned volunteer clean-up day was not delivered on time.

Residents in the village have taken part in clean-ups in the area for the last 12 years and usually use skips, pick-up sticks and bin bags donated by Pendle Council for the borough-run events.

But last Saturday, the group of willing volunteers was left with nowhere to put the trash after the skip failed to turn up.

By the time it arrived, a day later than usual and hours after the start of the event, the keen cleaners had drifted away.

One of the organisers, local Friends of the Earth campaigner Brian Jackson, said: "People were all ready in their old clothes - it was like we were all dressed up but nowhere to go.

"Normally the skips provided by the council arrive on Friday afternoons as they have for the last 25 years.

"By Saturday it was obvious something was wrong and the firm that should have delivered the skip hadn't done.

"By 1pm the volunteers had drifted away and so we were particularly annoyed when a skip was delivered at 2pm.

"We did manage to fill the skip with some junk on the Sunday, but the clean-up was a total wipe-out.

"It's a shame because these things usually bring people together and now some of that goodwill is gone. We don't know if those people will come back next time."

A spokesman from Pendle Council said: "The skip was delivered but the company providing it was running behind schedule and it arrived two hours late, at 1pm. Unfortunately, because it was a Saturday, there was no-one in the office to explain to the organisers what was happening.

"But the group was supplied with bin bags, litter pickers and gloves."