Residents whose bin collections were missed on or before January 8 can leave two extra bin bags on each of the next three collections.

Copeland council said the system was overloaded that week because of icy weather, Covid-related staff issues and two road traffic accidents.

The decision was made to get back on track by leaving uncollected recycling and waste until the next scheduled collection.

And to take account of the extra household waste, those residents can put out an extra two bags alongside their normal waste on each of the three collections following the missed one.

A council spokesman said: “It was a difficult week and we are grateful for residents’ patience. Normally, after a missed collection, we would collect four bags at the next collection, as a one-off. “Residents are getting six extra bags collected, and we’re able to spread them across three collections, which avoids the risk of the service becoming overwhelmed again. This only applies to collections missed before and on January 8.

“For collections missed after that, normal policies apply.”

Visit copeland.gov.uk/delayed-recyclingwaste-collections for details.