A MOTHER says she was physically sick when she found maggots crawling out of her bin.

Tracey Barlow, of Hampstead Court, Winsford, is the second woman to complain to the Chronicle about finding maggots in her bin since Vale Royal Borough Council launched its Kerbside Recycling Scheme.

Mrs Barlow says she felt disgusted to the point of nausea when her children pointed out maggots were crawling across the outside of the bin.

She said: 'When I rang the environmental health department at the council, they told me to get my husband to clean it, but said that I should write a letter to the council.

'I don't put raw food into my bin - everything goes into bin bags which are not open so it's disgusting that this could happen.'

Mrs Barlow blames the borough council's waste policy for the appearance of the maggots. Under the Kerbside Recycling Scheme, household rubbish is only collected every other week, with recyclables such as paper and tin picked up on the weeks in between.

When the joint Conservative and Liberal Democrat administration first revealed details of its radical re-think on waste collection, the policy was widely attacked by Labour Group councillors.

Labour leader Brian Lloyd predicted that Vale Royal would soon be overrun with maggots and vermin.

Mrs Barlow believes the borough council must return to a weekly collection.

She said: 'We are a family of four and everything is packaged so big it is seriously pathetic. They need to collect our household waste once a week. It's fine to collect the recycling every other week, but the household waste needs to be once a week.'

Mrs Barlow is not the first to complain to the Chronicle about maggots infesting bins. Mum-of-three Lindsey Stones, of Cedar Grove, Winsford, was horrified to find the creepy-crawlies in her bin and she laid the blame directly on the change in collection policy.

A borough council spokesman said: 'We advise all households follow the good housekeeping procedures and simple hygiene practices which will prevent incidents of this type occurring.'

Calls will be made to change the scheme at tomorrow's (Thursday's) full borough council meeting. The Labour Group will hand in two petitions to the Conservative and Lib-Dem leadership and demand a 'more flexible' policy is accepted.