North Herts residents have struggled to get through to waste contractor Urbaser to renew or subscribed to its paid for garden waste collection service.

The district council published a statement on its website on Tuesday last week apologising for the inconvenience, which is ongoing.

Urbaser's UK operations manager Chris Minnis told this paper: "Our phone lines have been extremely busy over the last few days with residents wishing to resubscribe to the garden waste service. So far 10,000 people have successfully resubscribed, however we apologise to those people who have been unable to get through.

"In response, we have decided to extend the deadline for taking payments to August 11. We are also increasing our call centre capacity to assist with the volume of calls. However, we strongly encourage those residents with online access to make their payment using our online payment portal at north-herts.gov.uk/gardenwaste."

Councillor Elizabeth Dennis-Harburg, NHDC's executive member for recycling and waste, said: "We are pleased that Urbaser is taking the positive step of extending the payment deadline. However, I would also urge people to use the online payments portal where able, to avoid having to wait to speak to someone on the phone. In order to avoid the high call volumes next year, Urbaser will be introducing the option to pay by direct debit in time for next year's subscriptions."

To subscribe online, go to north-herts.gov.uk/home/waste-and-recycling/garden-waste-collection-service.