LITTER pickers have been drafted in to help empty overflowing bins blighting York city centre.

City of York Council has made the move after rubbish piled up during the bank holiday was labelled “Simply not good enough” by Labour councillor David Scott.

He said on two days he found litter bins overflowing by mid-afternoon, and that he thought the council had let businesses and residents down.

Marygate resident Geoff Neal added his voice to the concerns, photographing several overflowing bins near his home on Monday morning.

Mr Neal said: “This is usual this time of year after the weekend.

“It’s a real health hazard, great for the rats and foxes and looks fantastic for the tourists!”

He added that the problem was bad around the entrance to the Museum Gardens on Marygate, after the bins were removed from the gardens last year. Now the council has announced it will step up its efforts by asking the team that carries out manual litter clearance in the city centre to help the team that empties the city-centre litter bins.

Russell Stone, City of York Council’s head of Neighbourhood Pride Services said: “While the bin emptiers are doing their rounds of the foot streets, the manual litter clearence team will replace full bin liners with fresh, when they see them.

They will securely tie the full bags and leave them next to the bins for collection by the bin emptying vehicle.”