Rubbish has been piling up outside homes in Brighton and Hove after new refuse collection rounds created confusion.

Some residents were told the wrong delivery day by the city council, meaning many bin bags have been left for days.

The problems started as refuse collectors and residents struggled to make the transition from privatised to in-house rubbish collection by the council.

Matters were made worse after some leaflets explaining the new collection days for different streets were delivered to wrong homes.

Many people demanded to know when their waste would be collected.

When Amanda Brace, of Toronto Terrace, Brighton, left for work on Thursday she found collectors on her street looking for rubbish.

However, there were few bins out as residents had been told their new collection day was Friday.

The refuse collectors were adamant they were there on the right day while the council said the men were running a day late for Wednesday's collection on the other end of the street.

Ms Brace, 37, said: "Our collection day used to be Tuesday but we got leaflets through our doors telling us it had changed to Friday.

"When my neighbour called the rubbish hotline he was told it was in fact our old day, Tuesday, and that we had been delivered the wrong leaflets."

Darren Hawley, of Nevill Road, Hove, said: "Our delivery day hasn't even changed but we still haven't seen any binmen for two weeks!

"We have 12 or 13 bags piled up now and the stench in the sun is terrible."

In Kemp Town, pensioner Vera Dunkley said rubbish was stacking up in Portland Place where she lives and round the corner at Marine Parade.

She said: "No one has come this week. We were told they would come on Monday, then on Tuesday, then on Wednesday and so on."

Emily Prior, of Marine Square, said: "I phoned the hotline and was told collection day was Monday.

"They keep saying they will come but still no one has."

A spokesman for the council said: "The answer to all these queries is likely to be the same: teething troubles as crews learn new rounds.

"We re-emphasise that there will be problems here and there.

"You cannot make radical changes to a very complicated system like this without a few problems.

"We're collecting from 100,000 households and complaints have been a very small proportion.

"A tiny proportion of cards will have gone astray or shown the wrong collection day. Cards were addressed using council tax data and sometimes addresses on lists don't tie in properly with intended rounds.

"We sent out around 120,000 cards.

"It would have been a miracle had they all been correct. Research among council staff suggests mistakes are about one per cent."

The helpline number is 01273 274674.