The leader of Brighton and Hove Council today joined in criticism of the towns' rubbish collection, admitting the service was a "shambles."

Last week, Brighton and Hove Council chief executive Glynn Jones decided to take a tough line with Sita, the firm responsible for collections.

Today council leader Lynette Gwyn-Jones added her voice to the debate.

There have been hundreds of complaints of missed collections since new rounds were introduced at the start of the month.

Councillor Gwyn-Jones said: "My priority is to see that residents' refuse is collected on time - not one day late, two days later or missed altogether.

"We have demanded that Sita's management pull out all the stops to sort out this shambles."

She said the company had plenty of experience of running contracts in large towns.

Coun Gwyn-Jones added: "If something is wrong with the way the collection service is organised they need to fix it, and do it quickly.

That is no more than we expected of them when they were awarded the contract.

"Sita is an international company and it is putting its reputation at risk on a national and European level by delivering a poor quality service to Brighton and Hove residents.

"I find it difficult to believe that a company that came with such high credentials cannot put together and manage a team that can deliver on their promises."

She said the council would use whatever measures it had at its disposal to ensure Sita complied with its contract.

And she added: "We are confident the workforce will work with Sita to deliver local people a quality service."