Thousands of lilac bin bags which would have added colour to the streets of Brighton and Hove have been sent back.

Serviceteam, the firm which thought it had bagged the multi-million pound city waste contract, brought in 58,000 lilac sacks, ready for when it expected to start work on Monday.

But its offer to run the waste service was rejected on Tuesday night by Labour Cabinet councillors who said the price was too high and did not offer value for money.

The rejection is expected to be rubberstamped at a policy meeting today.

Serviceteam had planned to use its trademark lilac bags, complete with logo and phone number on the sides, for street cleaning.

Managers have now taken the sacks back to be used in the other 40 local authority areas where they operate waste contracts.

Serviceteam marketing director Philip Walker said: "They have a special colour so we can distinguish them from other bags."

Brighton and Hove City Council has decided to use 80 Serviceteam vehicles from Monday.

Serviceteam stickers will have to be peeled off the vehicles before they roll out on the rounds.

A council spokesman said: "We will sort out the branding later. At the moment there are more important things to do."

Yesterday, Serviceteam managers met with council officers to hand over arrangements for the refuse collection contract.

Mr Walker said: "We have helped as much as we can but on Sunday we will be out of Brighton and Hove and the council will be on its own."