A lady from Royston who said she’s at the end of her tether after her food waste caddy was collected once in six weeks has challenged the council to visit her home and see the problems for themselves.

Mary Hall’s food waste caddy has been collected just once in six weeks – and she said she has been having problems ever since North Herts District Council took up a contract with waste firm Urbaser, and started an opt-in charge of £40 for garden waste to be collected.

As she is disabled and has extensive health problems including Parkinson’s disease and COPD, workers also must take 74-year-old Mary’s bins and ensure they are brought back to her home as she is unable to do this herself.

Mary told this paper: “It’s disgusting! My food waste was finally collected last week but only because I managed to get the attention of the bin man outside, otherwise it would have been missed again.

“When they brought it back there were maggots in the bin, I was furious. My carer had to stay longer to clean the bin, so that was extra time for her and cost more money.

“I challenge North Herts District Council to come to my house to explain to me what’s happening and see what’s going on here, because this isn’t good enough. I am at the end of my tether.”

When Mary tried to call NHDC to report the maggots, she couldn’t get through – something that has happened to her before in previous weeks due to the volume of calls the council has been getting from residents across the district blighted by missed bin collections.

Councillor Michael Weeks, NHDC’s executive member for waste and recycling, said: “We would like to apologise for the continued disruption that this resident has experienced with her collections.

“We have been in liaison with Urbaser’s management team who will ensure that collections are monitored over the next four weeks to prevent a further missed caddy collection and have offered to visit Ms Hall to discuss the issues she has experienced with her collections.”

Mr Weeks has addressed the problems at a council overview and scrutiny meeting last week. The consensus at the meeting was that there were many contributing factors that resulted in the difficulties faced by Urbaser, and there will be a full inquiry and report to establish reasons behind the problems.