Rubbish is piling up outside an elderly woman’s bedroom window - as the council’s waste collection staff do not have the right key to gain access to it.

Irene Tappin, who has been greeted with the sight of a sofa, rolls of carpet and black bags from her ground floor flat in Crescent Road, East Ham, since mid August, says she doesn’t know who to turn to.

She has called the council on numerous occasions but has been repeatedly told that the new gate system means that the staff cannot access it.

“It is so stupid,” Irene, 72, said. “Why don’t they have the right key?

“I dread anybody putting rubbish there because it doesn’t get collected.”

A spokeswoman for the council said items have now been collected from the block of flats and apologised for the delay and the inconvenience caused.

“We provide a free bulky waste collection service for residents to help them dispose of unwanted items in a bid to keep the borough tidy,” she added.

“However we have had difficulties in accessing this location and we have now reviewed our processes to try and ensure that this problem does not occur again.”

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