A furious North Shields woman has told how a communal bin shed not being emptied for more than a month has left residents plagued by flies.
Jessica Mayne and her partner Harry Lawson live in the Morgan House council flats on Railway Terrace.
The 25 year-old said that the out building, used to store rubbish between collection days, hasn't been emptied for six weeks.
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Ms Mayne said that residents can't fit any more rubbish in the shed, and have been forced to leave their full refuse sacks outside where they then get torn apart by seagulls.
North Tyneside Council admits that the storage area isn't big enough, however, the authority says fly-tippers and people not disposing of waste correctly are to blame.
Ms Mayne said: "The bin shed hasn't been emptied for six weeks and it is supposed to be emptied every other Thursday.
"The bin men have told the council they won't empty it because it's infested with fruit flies and rats, but it's infested because it hasn't been emptied for six weeks.
"People can't get rubbish in the bin shed so they have left their bags at the front of it and the seagulls have come down and ripped them open which means dirty nappies have been scattered about the garden."
She claimed that the stacked up waste is attracting vermin and causing her building to become infested with flies.
Ms Mayne continued: "The whole building is infested with these horrible flies that nobody can get rid of. My partner sprays fly spray to kill them but every day there's loads more of them.
"I've spent lots of money on apple cider vinegar and fly spray. I have cleaned my one-bedroom flat from top to bottom every day.
"It's really frustrating having to live like this, it's making me and my partner feel sick.
"You can't leave a drink out without putting a coaster on top of it or leave food unattended.
"A lot of food and drink goes down the drain because once a fly lands on it you don't want it."
Samantha Dand, senior manager for the council's local environmental services team, said that "misuse" of the bin store was causing the problems and had made it unsafe for staff.
She said: “The bin storage area at Morgan House has become a significant problem for our refuse collection teams due to the inappropriate disposal of waste and misuse of the bin store area by non-residents.
“This has become progressively worse in recent weeks to the point where it became unsafe for our staff to access the storage area and collect people’s household waste. During this time, our teams have continued to remove excess rubbish from the surrounding area and we have spoken with residents to listen to their concerns and agree a way forward."
Ms Dand said that a clean-up team will be sent out to decontaminate the area and the authority is looking into making it bigger and adding more bins.
She added: “We are sending out a clean-up team to remove the waste and decontaminate the area and we are evaluating options to increase the size of bin storage area to accommodate additional bins. We have also written to residents asking them to make sure they dispose of their waste correctly, in bags that are securely fastened and with bin lids closed, and we are putting up notices urging non-residents to stop using this facility so that we can avoid this happening again.”
