A Bradford school has amassed a mountain of rubbish after binmen failed to empty bins for four weeks.

Staff at Thackley Primary School, in Town Lane, Thackley, say that if the bags are not removed soon they will pose a health and fire hazard to pupils.

The problem is believed to have affected several schools and has been blamed on Bradford's schools reorganisation.

Thackley Primary School head teacher Lesley Tidy said: "There is a problem with rubbish collection. From a health and safety point of view we need our rubbish collected more regularly.

"The bins are sky-high. It's a fire hazard and vandals can get in and spread the rubbish around - it's a mess.

"If we could resume the service that we had before the summer then we wouldn't have a problem. I think it needs collecting once a week."

A caretaker at the school, who did not wish to be named, said : "I work at several schools in Bradford and a lot of them have been having problems since the schools reorganisation.

"The refuse people were told a lot of schools were closing and reduced the number of vehicles and men to empty the bins. Now there's not enough men to do the job.

"The bins at Thackley Primary are getting out of hand.

"The four big silver bins have been full for weeks and there are about 40 bin bags piled up against them. It's definitely becoming a health hazard."

Tony Thorne, headteacher of Hanson Upper School and convenor of Bradford Upper School Headteachers Association, said his school had experienced problems with refuse collection since reorganisation.

He said: "I can only speak about our own experiences here but there were difficulties on several occasions getting rubbish removed."

A spokesman for Bradford Council said: "Unfortunately there have been access problems at Thackley Primary School due to parked cars. Our collection wagon has been unable to enter the premises on several occasions.

"We want to clear the rubbish as soon as possible and we will continue to try to get access to the site. To try and resolve this in the long term we intend to meet with the school.

"One or two collections at Hanson School were missed by mistake and the service is now back to normal."