Street cleaners and roadworkers are being brought in to clear a backlog of rubbish left festering across a Black Country borough following the binmen’s strike.

Dudley Council has drafted in extra help rather than pay overtime or bonuses to the binmen who went on strike last week. The binmen resumed their rounds as usual this week but refused to take away more than the normal load.

Angry residents say up to 40 bags of refuse have been left in one street alone but have been told they will have to wait until tomorrow before it is collected.

A Wordsley woman complained of two weeks’ worth of rubbish piling up near garages at the back of her house, with a backlog built up from the national two-day action last week. Laura Duffy, of Troon Place, said Dudley Council binmen had failed to take away all the residents’ bags during yesterday’s collection.

She said: “They collected the rubbish from the whole street and then dumped it at the back of my house.

“They refused to take any more. There are around 40 bags just left in the street.”

The furious 26-year-old staff trainer said she usually put four bags out per week.

She added: “If you think of the environmental issues then it’s not good to have them rotting and decaying during the warm weather.”

Amblecote father-of-two Chris Smith, of King William Street, said he put four bags out yesterday but only two had been taken.

The 32-year-old salesman said: “What do I pay my council tax for? Times are hard for everyone at the moment.”

Council spokesman Phil Parker said it was not the authority’s policy to pay the binmen extra money to catch up on the double round following the strike.

He said the council was working to clear the backlog with the help of street cleaners and road workers

No one from the binmen’s union Unison was available for comment today.