Crisis talks were being held today to resolve a dispute between dustmen and the council which threatens to bring bin collections in Brighton and Hove to a halt.

Rubbish is piling up on the city streets after a bank holiday bust-up between refuse collectors and their employers, Brighton and Hove City Council.

Union representatives were locked in talks with senior officers at the council's in-house contractor Cityclean for four hours last night but were unable to reach an agreement.

The meeting was resuming at 4pm today.

Mark Turner, leader of the powerful GMB union, said he was confident a deal could be struck without resorting to industrial action.

The latest dispute centres on revelations binmen were to receive £230 for working on Saturday to catch up after the bank holiday.

We revealed the controversial bonus, part of an arrangement between the union and the city council, was costing tax payers £180,000 this year.

Binmen claimed they had been sworn and spat at by members of the public when the details of their bumper holiday payout were published.

Under the £230 plan, the collection schedule was to have been put back a day.

But instead of collecting Monday's rubbish yesterday, the collectors stuck to their usual Tuesday pattern, leaving Monday's bin bags on the streets.

An urgent statement released by the city council yesterday morning advised residents to revert to their normal collection day.

A message on the Cityclean hotline stated: "Following a mass meeting of the workforce and union representatives, Cityclean management have been advised by the union that the refuse collection service is not undertaking make-up following the bank holiday as advertised.

"Managers are urgently seeking a meeting with the union to resolve this."

An industry spokesman said contractors working in the private sector would expect their staff to work bank holidays for a maximum of triple time. He said this would be "far less" than £230.

The city council took the refuse service back in-house in October 2001.

A council spokeswoman said the day for Monday's missed refuse collection would be confirmed once a settlement had been agreed with the union.

Today's collection will be as usual for a Wednesday.