AN ARMY veteran has criticised the council after waste bins went uncollected for days.

Pensioner Anthony Ford has lived on Read Street, off Westcott Place, for around fifty years.

The 79-year-old, who served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Malaysia during the 1950s, spoke out after waste bins on the small town centre street went uncollected for four days.

“It was meant to be collected on Friday,” he said yesterday.

“It’s Tuesday and still not been collected.

“There’s nowhere to put the rubbish. It’s just sat outside."

The Read Street resident said that he had called the council about the uncollected rubbish. He was told that the collection truck was unable to access the road.

“The recycling lorry gets up and down this road no problem. It’s always just the waste bin collection,” he said.

“This has been going on too long. In this weather it stinks. It’s not very nice to have it sat outside your window.”

Anthony said the problem was not new. He estimated that litter had gone uncollected ‘seven or eight times’ in the last three months.

The army veteran served in Malaysia from 1955 to 1958 in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

“I used to escort the prime minister of Malaysia,” he said.

Anthony, who worked as a long-distance lorry driver, pleaded with the council: “I just want them to collect the rubbish on Fridays.

“If they parked at the bottom of the street I can’t see any reason why they can’t wheel the bins down.”

He said he planned to contact his councillor about the problem.

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said: “Unfortunately Read Street is very narrow and access can be difficult for our crews, particularly if cars are poorly parked.

“Whenever we have issues accessing streets we will always return to see if we can continue our waste collections.

"We will send a crew round to Read Street again in the hope that we can navigate the road and pick up any uncollected waste.”