Council chiefs have issued an apology to a pensioner whose bin was left overflowing with rubbish for more than a month.

Donald Macrae, 90, from Houston, said he felt increasingly distressed by Renfrewshire Council’s failure to collect his garbage.

The problem got so bad that Donald’s son Alex ended up collecting some of the rubbish and taking it to a civic dump himself.

Alex, 61, told The Gazette: “It is absolutely shocking that the council has treated an old man like this.

“Despite numerous phone calls to the council and false promises about the rubbish being collected, his bin was left stinking.

“The heap of rubbish was getting bigger and bigger, so we had to take action ourselves.”

Alex also told how the council’s failure to act was piling stress on his dad, whose wife of 63 years died recently.

He said: “My mum died in January and my dad misses her terribly, so he is already under a lot of stress at the moment without this happening.

“The council really should be ashamed of themselves.

“My dad pays his council tax and it is a terrible shame that this has been happening to him.”

After being approached by The Gazette about Donald’s situation, Renfrewshire Council arranged for the bin to be emptied.

A council spokesman said: “We apologise for any inconvenience we have caused.

“We want to ensure we maintain a high-quality collection service. When a collection is missed, we look to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.

“Unfortunately, in this instance, it took longer than we would have wished.”

Council chiefs have also urged anyone who has a complaint about garbage collections to contact the local authority directly.

The spokesman added: “Residents can report a missed collection via our website at www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/bincollection or by calling 0300 300 0300.”