Waste strewn across the street, dog bins piled high and rubbish blowing into the road – this is the mess caused by just two days of unofficial industrial action by Cityclean staff.

After two days of refusing to work due to a pay dispute, Cityclean staff returned to work yesterday.

However, with unions claiming they are still angry, the backlog created over the last week remained uncollected as staff “worked to rule”.

With the local authority warning the disruption could last for days as it could not find agency staff to do the job, a spokeswoman asked residents to take their waste to the tip.

And on Friday night union officials confirmed they would be carrying out a ballot for full industrial action – paving the way for a strike at the start of June.

Mark Turner, of the GMB union, said: “The ball is in the council’s court. They have to come back with something far better.

“If there’s a will, there’s a way and at the minute, there’s no will.

“We’re in it for the long haul.”

Mr Turner said the workers had been getting messages of support from as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

Dozens of residents contacted The Argus yesterday complaining about the state of the streets.

Claire Paas, of Lower Bevendean Avenue, Brighton, said cars were stopping to avoid rubbish in the road.

She said: “It’s going to cause an accident. Just what is council tax for? The council has said it can’t come and pick up the bins because of industrial action. But why did it not know about it?

“Now it is saying they will perhaps come and pick them up next week. It’s just a load of rubbish.”

For the full story see this weekend's Argus.