It is no wonder West Oxfordshire District Council did not match the Vale and South Oxfordshire District Council ’s recycling performances.

The contractors they employ to empty the bins and recycling do not collect many of the bins on the assigned collection days. Only once in the past six weeks have they collected our communal block’s red, food waste bin and I have had to call WODC to report the failed collection, which then often gets left to the following day.

This week just gone was no exception and I reported the missed collection on Wednesday. No-one came on the Thursday, despite reassurances from WODC recycling department, who said they had initiated an investigation to why our bin was missed so often.

On Friday morning the bin was unapproachable as swarms of flies buzzed around the lid.

Three more calls to WODC achieved no new news. With the holiday weekend about to start I feared the bin would not get collected until the next day after bank holiday and would by then become a severe health hazard.

I phoned the contractors’ head office, where I was given a supervisor’s number to phone, which turned out to be unavailable.

I called WODC yet again, only this time instead of listening to the weak excuses I threatened to get the disgusting bin taken to WODC offices and have the contents emptied in the main entrance. It worked, but the public should not have to go to these lengths to get a common service carried out.

I hope someone in authority at WODC reads this and takes action to ensure no more mistakes are made.

I will be badgering the recycling department to make sure the promised investigation goes ahead.

ADRIAN TAYLOR, Thames Court, Eynsham