Rats and an unbearable stench are making life a misery for the residents of one block of flats in Croydon.

Some of the communal rubbish bins at Purvis House in Cromwell Road have not been collected for nine weeks.

And residents of the block of flats have had no luck getting the council to come and collect them.

Mary MacLennan, 68, has lived in Purvis House for two years.

Her husband Bill is chairman of the building’s residents association and she thinks the stress of the situation has contributed to him ending up in hospital.

Mrs MacLennan said: “At eight weeks they took a couple of the bins away but not the rest.

“There are rats now and it smells terrible, when you open the windows you get a nice whiff.

“My husband has been phoning the council and I got as far as calling the mayor’s office but nothing has been done.

“Bill went into hospital with a liver complaint and now he’s found out he had an ulcer.

“They asked if he had been under any stress and this is the only stress I can think of. Because he is chair of the building’s residents association a lot of people have been asking him when the bins will be collected.”

She said one of the bins has a broken wheel but as it is on one of the large communal bins, nobody living there can repair it as the bins are so heavy.

Neighbour Betty Wells has lived at Purvis House for 15 years.

The 78-year-old said: “I use a chute to put my rubbish in and the smell has been atrocious.

“We’ve had to buy masks for when we put the rubbish out. We need the council to get this rubbish thing sorted,” shes said.

As well as rats, residents say that the overflowing bins are attracting foxes to the area.

A Croydon Council spokesman said: “We regret to hear of the issues our residents have had with missed collections. These were caused by a broken bin that will be repaired as soon as possible.

“The best way to report missed collections is through My Account on our website. Missed collections reported via the online page at https://my.croydon.gov.uk/User/Login will be collected the next day.”