A Croydon landlord got so fed up with waiting to have his recycling boxes collected he took matters into his own hands - by dumping them on the doorstep of the council's offices.

James Long took the drastic action last Thursday after his overflowing boxes remained uncollected for five weeks - and after he said he was promised they would be picked up three times.

Mr Long, who lives in South Norwood and lets out 11 houses across the borough, said he would be happy to be taken to court for flytipping so he can reveal how "ridiculous" the system is.

The 33-year-old said his first problem with the council was over the amount of rubbish his tenants were putting in their bins. After two years of paying to dump rubbish at the tip he agreed to start recycling.

"I wrote my tenants letters, put green boxes outside their properties and put laminated notes on them saying what they could and couldn't recycle," he said.

But Mr Long said the green boxes outside his multiple occupancy houses were left to overflow.

"The council is telling me I'm putting the boxes in obscure places but they're at the front of my properties," he added, "If I was to put them in the road they would be a hazard. I've had to go to properties at 6am to catch these bin men out. You have to be cloak and dagger to get your box collected."

Last Thursday, after waiting at one of his properties for the recycling to be picked up, he rang the council and told them he was going to hand over the boxes directly.

He added: "I'm not a green hippy or anything but I do pay a lot in council tax every month and wonder what am I getting in return."

A council spokesman said: "The reason for the non-collection was that, in both instances, the green collection boxes had not been left in an appropriate position. Health and safety rules dictate that we must ask residents to leave their collection boxes within one metre of the front gate of their properties."