CRUNCH talks between council bosses and fed-up residents have taken place in a bid to solve an ongoing bin collection dispute.

Homeowners surrounding Munro Place in Anniesland called the meeting with top land and environmental services staff amid claims rubbish had been left to pile up for weeks, attracting vermin to the area.

Livid tenants say they’ve been in dispute with the council since June last year, when the collection cycle was changed “without notice”, leaving residents scrambling to figure out when bins would be picked up.

Annmarie Monaghan, whose home has been fitted with rat traps following the discovery of the rodents last summer, told the Evening Times: “The bins were ridiculous. They had sat piling up for weeks until we finally called a councillor to get onto Glasgow City Council and have it sorted.

“We’ve no idea what’s going on with collections, we’ve contacted the council and nobody gives us a straight answer. We’re running down the street in our pyjamas chasing binmen and we’re being passed by.

“The bins are really, really bad, the rubbish is everywhere. We’ve been living like this for months now, it’s ridiculous.”

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Council chiefs insisted the issue was a miscommunication due to a new pilot scheme running in the area, a spokesman said: “Since November we have been trialling a programme of collections every eight days in the area to match with the four on/four off shift cycle of cleansing staff.

“The aim is for residents to become more familiar with the teams, which should make it easier to deal with any issues that might arise, but also for staff to have a stronger connection to the areas they service regularly.

“We are sorry for any confusion created by the introduction of the trial but residents can continue place their waste in backcourt bins as normal for staff to collect.

“We have had a positive meeting with residents and provided a calendar that provides precise detail on when they should expect their bins to be collected .

“A recent site visit found no evidence of long standing issues with missed bin collections in the area.”

However, residents in other areas throughout the west of the city, including Yoker, Scotstoun and the West End, have since come forward to say their facing the same collection woes – prompting councillors’ fears it’s a widespread issue.

Figures revealed a total of 20,423 pick-ups have been missed since April of last year, while food waste collection is has also dropped.

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Councillor Paul Carey said: “I would like to stress that this is not a fault of the workforce, this is the fault of management who keep changing the dates for the bin uplifts and this has caused a great deal of confusion with the amount of times they have changed them.

“The workforce is overstretched in my opinion and they are taking the brunt of members of the public’s anger and frustration when the fact is that it is down to management to get this right.”

However, the local authority insists its record is showing its success.

A spokesman added: “Of the 17.7 million household bin collections undertaken by the council every year 99.9 per cent are completed as scheduled.”