Postman Chris Davis was baffled when city council binmen failed to collect his rubbish because his wheelie bin was not ‘presentable’.

A council bin chief was even set to pay him a personal visit to advise him where to leave it.

Mr Davis, 33, who lives with wife Julia, 26, and children Poppy, four, and Rhys, two, in Teal Close, Greater Leys, called the council to complain when his bin was not emptied in the run-up to Christmas, leaving him with nearly a month’s rubbish.

He called Oxford City Council’s waste collection department and was told that his bin was not ‘presentable’ and that a supervisor would visit his home to give him advice.

Mr Davis said: “My bin was emptied on November 30 but it was not emptied on December 14, although there has been no problem with the recycling.

“When I phoned up I was told that my bin had not been presentable although it was left where I always leave it in front of my house and there has never been a problem before.

“The bin was not overflowing and the lid shut properly so I was totally mystified as to why it had not been collected. No note was left on the bin.

“The council said they would send a supervisor out to advise me on how to make my bin presentable but I didn’t think this was a cost-effective use of council resources.

“I was left with about a month’s worth of domestic waste building up and although we recycle as much as we can. There is a lot of rubbish at this time of year.”

After the Oxford Mail contacted the council, Mr Davis’s bin was emptied within 24 hours. Mr Davis added: “A waste collection field officer apologised to me on the phone but no-one has explained yet what went wrong and I would like to be reassured that this won’t happen again. It caused unncecessary stress at a very busy time of year.”

City council spokesman Louisa Dean said: “We apologised to the resident about the conflicting information he received from our contact centre and have now removed the refuse from his property.

“We will continue to talk to the resident to ensure that his waste is collected.

“All residents need to ensure that their bins are placed at the boundary of their property for collection.

“We visit residents approximately five times a week. These can be requests from residents or issues that the crews have raised about a particular property.”