The contractor that manages Croydon's waste disposal is to be fined thousands of pounds for repeatedly missing collections.

Veolia is to be penalised by Croydon Council for a sixfold surge in failings after it implemented a new collection system. 

Since June 1 the company's binmen have been organised into eight teams, each serving a separate area of the borough.

The change was designed to lead to better local knowledge and communication with the council's waste management staff, such as fly-tipping enforcement officers and street cleaners.

But an average of 1,800 collections were missed each week during June following the system's implementation.

Missed collections peaked at nearly 3,000 during one week - almost six times as many as the weekly average of 530 before the change.

Andy Jones, 34, of Gatestone Road, Crystal Palace, went a month without a collection, which finally materialised after multiple complaints.

He said: "Clearly, this is not working. Bin lorries would drive up and down the road but not stop. It seemed very chaotic.

"In the heat, it’s a health hazard."

Waipong Pang, 72, said his block of flats in Spindlewood Gardens, South Croydon, had not had its bins emptied for three weeks.

He said: "It's like a mountain. It is unhygienic and we can't open our windows because there are so many flies around."

Croydon Council has held talks with Veolia after being inundated with complaints about the problems. 

It is to hold further negotiations with the company about the size of the financial penalties, which could reach about £180,000.

Stuart Collins, cabinet member for Clean Green Croydon, said: "Where they've been told there's a problem and there remains a problem, we will look at serving penalities on them."

He added: "We've discussed with them how they reconfigured the rounds and whether they reconfigured the rounds with too much work on some of them. They have dealt with that.

"Each week as we've been going on the number of missed collections is falling.

"But the perspective is across the borough there are millions of rounds a day. When you get people complaining, the word goes round that the whole system is in chaos, but it is isn't.

"It is only a small percentage - about 0.5 per cent of the whole service collection."

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Angry: Waipong Pang's bins have not been emptied for weeks

Veolia has altered 34 collection rounds in Croydon following the complaints.

A spokeswoman for Veolia said the company had expected an increase in missed complaints during the "period of adjustment."

She added: "The rescheduling of the collection services will have significant practical and financial benefits for Croydon and in the vast majority of cases changes have been managed smoothly. 

"However, we would like to thank the small proportion of residents who have experienced disrupted services for bearing with us during this time."