A DESPAIRING Tupsley woman said bins which have not been collected at her block of flats are attracting rats and mice.

Rosy Breeze who lives at Dartmouth Court in Hereford said she returned from being away to find bin bags piled up around the communal bin area.

She said: "There are rats and mice in there now. It is really bad- there is a serious lot of rubbish building up now. I don't know what to do."

She said she has reported the problem to the council but does not know where to turn next.

Spokesman for Herefordshire Council, Michelle Morgan, said FCC Environment, the council’s contractor, only emptied one general rubbish bin last Friday (January 22), because the bins were overfilled and there was a quantity of black sacks on the floor.

She said: "There is a risk of moving and emptying overfilled bins therefore the lids of the bins need to be almost closed for the crew to be able to empty them."

Ms Morgan said information was delivered to the flats on Tuesday outlining why FCC were unable to empty the bins on Friday and asked residents to recycle more of their waste to reduce the amount of general black bag rubbish.