A retired university lecturer says he was forced to dump his garden waste after the council repeatedly failed to empty his bin.

Andy Ashenhurst claims he was promised four collection slots in as many months - only for Canterbury City Council officials to reveal his phone call request for the service “had not been logged”.

Residents in the district pay £69.30 for a green garden waste bin and then £57.20 a year for it to be collected.

But the frustrated dad-of-three, who lives in the city’s Victoria Row, says he has now resorted to disposing of his garden refuse having lost hope the council will act.

The 78-year-old former psychology lecturer, who taught at the University of Kent for 15 years, described his irritation after needing the bin space for fresh grass cuttings from his overgrown garden.

“Telling me that my calls weren’t logged is just a very convenient way of dismissing my complaints,” he said.

“The fact is that I have been paying for the service for 20 years with no problems and my contract should have covered me up to April this year, when a new green waste collection deal was introduced for 2024/25.

“But from December last year to April they simply did not turn up, despite my requests and being assured of a collection on four separate occasions. Now they are saying they won’t come until I pay for the new 2024/25 contract.

“I am happy to do that but it should not negate their responsibility to have previously emptied my bin.”

Mr Ashenhurst says a clause in the new city council 2024/25 collection deal says that, if a missed bin collection is not reported to the authority before midnight the day after the collection was due, customers have to wait for the next collection cycle.

“If, however, you do report a missed collection within that very narrow time frame, they say it will be collected ‘asap’ which, of course, can mean anything the council want it to,” he added.

“So, if l fail to supervise and monitor their failure within a day, then l have to pay the price.

“Rather than harassing customers with weasel words and intimidation, the council need to ask themselves why they failed to collect in the first place.

“It's no wonder fly-tipping is on the increase.”

City council spokesman Rob Davies said: “We are sorry to hear of this issue with Mr Ashenhurst's bin.”

“We have no record of him previously logging it as a missed collection, but on being made aware of it this week, we planned to attend his property and empty it.”

He added: “We now understand he has emptied it himself and has also signed up for this year's collections."