Piles of uncollected rubbish caused a stink on Streatham housing estates this week.
A special collection vehicle broke down, meaning rubbish left by residents in underground bins could not be collected on the Sackville estate and Albert Carr Gardens estates on Monday.
Piles of rubbish bags had to be dumped by the chute to the bins, leaving an unsightly and smelly eyesore for residents.
But without a spare collection truck with suitable machinery to suck up the bags, they remained uncollected for days.
A Lambeth Council spokesman apologised to residents for the situation, and said the council had been working hard to get the service back to normal.
He said: “We have been collecting surplus waste from around the bins to minimise the overspill.”
He said the council was putting in place an arrangement with another borough to share a specialist vehicle to act as cover in the future, and residents on the estates would be leafleted to explain what happened.
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