Jason Harper, of Wolseley Street, called Reading Borough Council to report two overflowing bins near his home. He says they were so full that dog waste, nappies and takeaway leftovers had spilled out and were left strewn across the pavement.

But when they told him it would take five days for anyone to clear away the eyesore, the 38-year-old posed an ultimatum: 'You come to the rubbish or it will come to you’.

Mr Harper believes the problem has arisen because Reading Borough Council does not pay enough attention to rubbish outside the town centre.

He said: “They quoted me up to five days, which I do not think is acceptable, bearing in mind how quickly they clear things up in the town centre. So I told them if it isn’t gone in one day I’ll bag it up myself and dump it outside their offices.”

True to his word, the Coley resident cleared up the rubbish, bagged it up and walked down to the brand new Civic Offices in Bridge Street on Wednesday with two large grey bin bags.

He marched resolutely through the automatic doors to make his donation — but was quickly intercepted by a member of staff who said: “We won’t take that here.”

However, with the help of a security guard, Mr Harper was escorted to the council’s own commercial bins behind the offices, where he was able to dispose of the rubbish.

Mr Harper then went home and posted a written complaint on the council’s website.

It said: “I do not believe that this issue is the fault of the hardworking staff 'on the ground’ at Reading Borough Council — it is a higher level systemic problem. Me sorting out this rubbish is just one example of how easy this is to do.”

Mr Harper said he will do the same thing again if he does not feel his neighbourhood is being kept clean enough.

A council spokesman said anyone who spots overflowing bins could contact them via the Love Clean Reading app. He said: “This particular bin was missed on this occasion by the collection team and we apologise for that. The council has over 1,800 street bins across the whole of Reading and all litter bins are scheduled to be emptied weekly.

“The council placed these bins on Wolseley Street because they were directly opposite a school and would therefore be used regularly.This proved to be the case but we are happy to review whether capacity is large enough here.”