BIN collections have been disrupted due to the 'pingdemic' with some people waiting weeks to have their rubbish taken away.

Residents across Brighton and Hove have seen long delays to their bin collections in recent weeks resulting in an overflow of rubbish.

Brighton and Hove City Council has said that the Cityclean collections have been affected by staff being 'pinged' to self-isolate via the NHS app while others have actually contracted the virus.

The council is also experiencing recruitment issues due to a national shortage of HGV drivers because of Brexit, a spokesman said.

A spokesman for the council said: "Despite our bin crews and street cleaners continuing to work hard collecting the city's waste, we're asking for your patience over the summer until we can start getting back to normal."

The Argus:

"At Cityclean, there are 11 drivers and six operatives either sick, self-isolating or have Covid. This means collection lorries can't go out."

"We're also finding it very difficult to recruit new people or bring in agency staff as they're facing the same problems, and the situation is being made worse by the national shortage of HGV drivers due to Brexit."

"As a further result of leaving the European Union, we're finding it very difficult to get vehicle parts when our bin lorries break down, meaning the truck and crew cannot start their round, resulting in missed collections."

"When rounds or street cleaning services are missed, it's then very hard to catch up without the correct number of staff."

Brighton resident Amy Blaskett, of Framroze Court in Brentwood Road, has contacted The Argus about her missed collections. She said the communal bins had been missed for three weeks before they were finally collected.

"I eventually got a reply when I said I'm taking this to The Argus and my MP, and they magically turned up the next day," she said.

"They blamed this on Covid but I've been here for seven years and this has been happening even before I moved in, the worst case was when they didn't collect them for six weeks."

Amy said that the overflow of rubbish had become a health hazard for her and her children.

"I am on the ground floor and we couldn't even have our windows open due to the flies and smell, we saw rats numerous times."

"That's not to mention the hazard for the children who couldn't play out there due to the rubbish that was everywhere."

Jacob Marley Fincham also lives in the flats and sent a video to The Argus. He said the bins have not been collected for up to two months.

"Here's our rubbish that our council hasn't taken away for nearly two months. There are old people who live at the back and there are maggots and flies coming through their windows," he said.

"It's disgusting, it's not what you expect to see, especially when the council glam us up on their Facebook pages but in reality you come into the boroughs of Brighton and it looks like this."

Chris Dunford, a resident in Woodbourne Road, Patcham, had a similar experience when his bins were not collected for two weeks despite multiple attempts to contact the council.

The Argus: Residents across Brighton and Hove have had bin collection delays due to refuse collectors being 'pinged' by NHS app.

"You would think if a street was missed one week then priority would be given to that area the following week," he said.

Chris was eventually able to report his issue to a switchboard operator who then contacted a crew and redirected them for an urgent collection.

"Being retired I have plenty of time on my hands but without my constant pestering over the past two weeks I suspect my bin would still be overflowing."

Chris asked the operator why this issue kept occurring: "It seems, in common with the rest of the country, many of the staff have been 'pinged' and they can't get any agency staff for the same reason."

He said he has concerns over Brighton and Hove City Council plans to introduce separate food waste collections as he believes this will add to the problem.

"Perhaps they should concentrate on providing an efficient service for their current collections before introducing more."

The council has said that it is struggling to plan ahead.

"It's extremely difficult to plan ahead as the situation changes daily as more and more people are 'pinged' and asked to self-isolate," the spokesman added.

"Yesterday's (Thursday July 22) government announcement on some critical workers not having to self-isolate does not seem to include front-line staff like refuse workers, but we're looking into this."

The chairwoman of the council's environment, transport and sustainability committee Amy Heley said: "We're facing an extremely difficult situation at the moment due to staff shortages which are leading to missed collections and work like weed removal.

"We know and appreciate how extremely frustrating this can be for our residents, but staff health and safety is paramount.

"We want to be honest and ask people to please bear with us as we're doing everything we can to support staff to stay protected from the virus, and minimise the disruption."

She added: "Our staff are working tremendously hard to keep the city clean and tidy, including our parks and open spaces, and have been doing so throughout the pandemic, in all weathers."

"But like local authorities and businesses throughout the country, our services are being severely affected by staff suffering from Covid, people self isolating and the difficulties in trying to recruit and bring in agency staff."

The council has said that they are trying to minimise disruption as much as possible by redeploying staff where possible and continuing to try to recruit and use agency staff.

It is asking residents to, where possible, store their recycling until it can be collected and garden waste collections are continuing.

It has also asked for residents to help the process by "flattening boxes to take up less space in bins" and "don't leave extra waste beside a communal bin as this is fly-tipping."

"If you have too much waste or recycling, please keep it until your next collection or take it to one of our 64 recycling points or our Household Waste Recycling Sites."