A group of neighbours who vowed to leave their bins out after they were apparently missed by dustmen have had finally had them collected – after the intervention of the Evening News.

The women, who live in Ranworth Road, North Earlham, were angry after city council contractors Verdant failed to collect their bins last Monday.

Roisin Limacher, Kirsty Dowe and Gemma Kerton insist they left their blue mixed recycling bins and food waste caddies outside in good time to be collected, but that they were missed, saying that neighbour's bins put out after theirs were collected.

Miss Limacher, 29, a care worker and mother-of-one, said: 'We put our bin out at 6.45am when my partner took the dog for a walk. On Monday afternoon I came home and it had not been emptied.

'Initially the council said it would be collected within 48 hours. By Wednesday it was really starting to stink. When I contacted the council again they said they had checked with the bin crew who said it had not been left out. They refused to collect it and said I would have to take the rubbish to a recycling centre.'

Her next-door neighbour Kirsty Dowe, 22, a housewife with a three-year-old son, said: 'My son woke me up at about 6am like he normally does and I put the bin out then.

'When I came back later one of my neighbour's bins was out. They had emptied hers but had left our three bins in a row.'

Gemma Kerton, 30, a mother-of-two and Miss Limacher's other next-door neighbour, said: 'My bin was out by about 7am. I'm cross that they emptied everybody else's but ours.'

Ms Kerton said her mother, who also lives on Ranworth Road, had not had her bin collected for three weeks in a row.

All three women pledged to leave their bins out until they were collected and, shortly after the Evening News contacted Norwich City Council, they were.

A city council spokesman confirmed the bins had been now been collected but said the authority had received no complaints from any other properties in the street.

'We would urge people to double check their calendar to see what day their recycling and waste is collected, and also to make sure they have a look at the important information on the back, which has got some top tips about bins and collections,' she said.

'There have been some route changes for the collection crews recently, so people's collection times may have changed from what they are used to.

'It's really important that bins are out by 7am on the day of collection in their normal collection point. For most people in the city, this is to the front of their property, as close to the pavement as possible but within the boundary, to avoid blocking the pavement.'

Miss Limacher said she was pleased the bins had now been collected. 'I'm thinking of putting fairy lights on mine so it doesn't get missed next time,' she said.

Have you got an environment story for the Evening News? Contact environment correspondent Jon Welch on 01603 772476 or email jon.welch@archant.co.uk.