The council’s new bin collection scheme was a load of rubbish for some households as the switch in service hit teething problems.

Homes across Croydon were left with their bins uncollected after being told the wrong day for collection or missed entirely.

The council said those affected were primarily in areas where one collection cycle had been replaced with another.

Linda Jordan ran barefoot in chase of a bin lorry with her rubbish after being given a leaflet with the wrong day for collection.

When she showed the driver the leaflet she was told it was a mistake.

She then was left to negotiate the council’s recorded message system, which gave collection information for July and September, when attempting to report the error.

David White, of Sudbury Gardens, received a leaflet saying it was the blue box collection last week when it was the green box week.

He said at least 40 homes had been affected by the mix-up with many putting their landfill waste away.

And Alan Reynolds was left with his bin after Leyburn Gardens was missed by the binmen.

Only garden waste was taken, leaving green waste and food scraps festering outside in the street.

Mr Reynolds reported 43 homes had been affected.

A spokesman for the council said: “Our waste team is working hard to ensure that any localised issues that arose in the first week of the new service are dealt with quickly and professionally.

  “We have found a small number of roads that appear to have had incorrect collection calendars delivered, and an even smaller number did not get their new food waste bins.

“Most of these problems should have been rectified over the weekend, and we expect all roads to have the correct information and a normal service in place by the end of this week at the latest.”