Dan O’Brien, 27, lives in central Birmingham and says he saw four dead rats on his morning walk earlier today. "For hundreds of residents in our apartments, the rubbish is overflowing," he says. "As someone whose work takes them across the city, the sights are absolutely shocking.

Waste workers have been on strike in the city on and off since January but are now entering their second week of indefinite action, as rubbish and complaints from local businesses and residents pile up.