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A month-long bin strike has turned parts of an east London borough into “an embarrassment”, say residents.

Refuse workers walked out in a dispute with Barking & Dagenham council over wage cuts for staff who carry out safety checks on rubbish wagons.

Hairdresser Annette Heathman, 50, from Chadwell Heath, said the piles of rubbish lining local streets was an “embarrassment” and added: “I don’t want to go outside my front door because my heart just sinks.”

Father-of-two Sylvester Nkao, 40, from Dagenham, said his last bin collection was on April 7 and his street was now infested with rats and foxes.

He said: “There is so much rubbish piling up in front of people’s houses they don’t know what to do with it, and the smell is awful.”

Residents can drive to special dumps opened by the council with refuse, but have had to queue for up to an hour.

The strike was called by the GMB, Unite and Unison unions after they claimed council changes to working conditions would leave drivers £1,000 a year worse off and cut the time allowed for safety checks on wagons.

Unite and Unison accepted a one-off £500 payment from the council, but 100 GMB members have continued strike action and plan a further nine-day walkout on May 30. This means some households will have gone for eight weeks without refuse collections.

Dagenham MP Jon Cruddas, a GMB member, today urged the council and union leaders to end “the chaos on our streets”. The GMB, which wants a £5,000 payment for workers, was un-available for comment. @1Ben_Morgan