Rubbish piled high at an estate where the bins were not collected for three weeks.

Residents said they saw rats exploring the heaps of waste at their estate Withdean Court in Varndean Road, Brighton.

The bin area, which accommodates 80 flats, was heaving with bags of litter.

Susan Dealy who lives in the flats said the state of the bins was "shocking".

"We have had issues before but not for a while now," Ms Dealy said.

"It has been much better in recent months but it is absolutely shocking at the moment.

"There were rats there. At one point, you could not even get into the bin area.

"There is 80 flats here and it mounts up so quickly. People were just throwing it over the top."

READ MORE: Rubbish piles up as only driver willing to reverse down driveway was off

The piles of waste were also being covered by fallen leaves.

Residents saw rats scurrying amongst the piles of wasteResidents saw rats scurrying amongst the piles of waste 

Councillor Tim Rowkins, cabinet member for net zero and environmental services, said: “We apologise to residents for recent disruption to their collection service and missed collection

"This area has now been fully cleared by our team and it will be monitored to ensure there are no similar problems in the future.”

Earlier this year, people living in Tudor Close in Rottingdean faced three weeks of no bin collections.  

Their regular driver told them the missed collections were because he was on holiday and no one else would reverse a vehicle down the close’s narrow driveway.

Brighton and Hove City Council blamed overgrown hedges and trees restricting access to the two-and-a-half metre-wide driveway.

Resident Jason Peters measuring the access to the bin storeResident Jason Peters measuring the access to the bin store

Once the private estate’s gardener had trimmed back the greenery, Cityclean emptied the refuse bins – but left the recycling behind.

Resident Jason Peters was surprised to find the recycling was left behind as he made daily calls to Cityclean for the three weeks the bin rubbish and recycling built up.

Mr Peters said he was told no driver would come out, leaving the bags building up from the 29 homes.