A FED-UP resident has criticised the council for not collecting his rubbish for more than three months.

Darren West, 43, of Bear Road, Brighton, had been accumulating black bags of rotting rubbish outside his property since November.

Mr West said he made “numerous complaints” to Brighton and Hove City Council during that period.

Mr West told The Argus about his plight on Tuesday. The council promptly collected his rubbish the following day.

He said: “I’ve made so many complaints since November and they told me each time they were investigating. Meanwhile all the rubbish was building up and it was stinking.

“In the end I couldn’t access my gas meter because there were so many bags in the way.

“It was getting to the point where I couldn’t top up the gas with my pre-payment card because there was no possible way I could reach it.

“Also, people who were walking past began throwing their own rubbish on the pile so it just became unbearable.”

The council said it had not collected the bags because Mr West had been leaving them in the ‘gated area’ pictured.

But Mr West insists he has been leaving rubbish bags there for 12 years.

He added: “I’ve been here for 12 years and we’ve always left the rubbish in that spot, so I don’t know what’s changed.

“They didn’t even tell me why they weren’t collecting it. I just kept getting held on the phone for 20 minutes each time.”

Brighton and Hove City Council said it had advised Mr West about where to leave his rubbish in future.

A spokesman said: “'The rubbish was cleared from the property on Wednesday night by Cityclean staff.

“The householder has been advised that he needs to put his rubbish on the kerbside for collection – as other people in the road do – rather than leaving it in the gated area.”