A pensioner says he has resorted to offloading his rubbish to friends after going more than three months without a bin collection.

Rene Pollak, who lives in Throwley near Faversham, has been left infuriated after failing to see the binmen turn up at his door since mid-March – and has been left to sort out growing mounds of rubbish since.

The 73-year-old says he has been forced to take weeks-old waste to the tip and ask friends to take it home in a bid to tackle the issue – which has seen rats move into his garage.

And now, Mr Pollak is demanding a refund in his council tax – and says he will refuse to pay any more to Swale Borough Council until it is done on a weekly basis.

It comes as one of many cases of missed collections around Swale, Maidstone and Ashford after Suez and the MidKent Waste Partnership signed a £152 million contract – which came into effect on March 25.

“I didn't actually have any pick-up for the two weeks prior to the end of Biffa’s contract,” said the retired agronomist.

“Then we had the all-singing, all-dancing transition which was supposed to take place after Easter in March but I have not seen a Suez truck ever since that date.

“Undutifully, every week, I would drag bigger and bigger heaps of composting rubbish down to the gate, leave it outside and then on Saturdays or Sundays, I would bring it back in again.

“It attracted rats, I was using my car to take it to the tip – it’s a very old car and I’m using it to carry out a service I already pay for.

“Then I used up my friendships because I would invite people for pizzas and Chinese takeaways and the very last thing I would say to them would be ‘nobody can leave here without loading their car up with my rubbish’.

“This drew wry smiles initially, but I really was stretching my friendships to the Nth degree by loading their boots up with all this stinking stuff so they could take it and put it in their bins.

“I don’t have a trash problem now but that’s because I've had a huge workabout, which has cost me both emotionally and fiscally, and all set against a bill that I'm accumulating week by week for a service that I’m not getting.”

Before discounts – applied because Mr Pollak lives alone following his wife’s death – the property incurs a council tax charge of £3,643.40 a year.

Although only a small chunk of this will be used to fund waste collection, he estimates he currently pays £1 a day for a service he has not received in three and a half months.

‘I'm going to stop paying my rates. I can't see any way of getting them to take any notice…’

And having finally grown fed up with reporting missed collections via the phone or online, Mr Pollak has now told the council he will no longer be paying the tax.

“I've sent off a letter to them saying that I'm going to stop paying my rates. I can't see any way of getting them to take any notice otherwise,” he said.

“They will probably return by saying they're going to fine me but I’m not just concerned about me, all of my neighbours are having the same issue.

“Swale Borough Council says it has a real concern over fly-tipping. Well, what does it expect some people are going to do if their pile gets bigger and bigger?”

Mr Pollak is not the first person from Faversham to make the grand gesture, with Malachi and Sue Doyle threatening to stop payments to Swale Borough Council (SBC) for their Band D home in April before the council intervened.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people have been suffering from infrequent pickups becoming commonplace within the district.

A Swale Borough Council spokesperson said: “We’re sorry we’ve not been able to provide the service expected, and completely understand people’s frustration.

“We have raised the issue of persistent missed collections with Suez and we’ll keep working with them to deliver a reliable collection service.”