Rubbish is starting to build up on the streets of Coventry and crews are being made to work into the weekend to clear it.

Bags of refuse have been stacked alongside overflowing wheelie bins following the Christmas period, when no rubbish collections were made.

Some houses normally visited on a Friday are to be missed out today, and residents are being asked to wheel their bins back inside tonight, and then put them out first thing in the morning.

The backlog has built up because the refuse vehicles can only take a certain amount of rubbish, and are having to make extra journeys to the Waste to Energy plant at London Road.

Around 2,400 properties in the city have been missed each day because of this.

This is the first year since new working arrangements were brought in, putting collection crews on a four-day week.

The traditional two-day council bank holidays throughout the year often caused collections to be missed for two weeks at many houses in the city.

The Christmas period is now the only time of year when rubbish is likely to build up.

Householders are being warned that the backlog could run through until next Tuesday because of the sheer volume of holiday rubbish that has to be collected.

Anyone with a query should ring Street Services free on 0500 834333 before 6pm, or 7629 4444 or 7683 2222 out-of-hours for help and advice.