A south Essex council is set to suspend its food and garden waste collections "until further notice" amid a UK-wide shortage of HGV drivers.

Thurrock Council was unable to collect any brown bins last week (September 19-23) due to a shortage of HGV drivers affecting numbers of staff available.

There will also be no blue bin collections in the area this week (September 26-30).

The council has said it will collect green/grey bins and brown bins from every household, meaning "week 1" and "week 2" households will all have brown bins collected.

From next week, Monday October 3, the council will suspend brown bin collections until further notice for all households.

Food and other waste which could make a bad smell can be put in residents' green/grey bin. 

A Thurrock Council spokesman said: "We will collect blue bins and, until Friday October 7, up to 2 clear plastic bags of recycling side waste – please flatten your side waste as much as possible.

"We apologise for any inconvenience. Please share this information with friends and neighbours in Thurrock.

"Thank you for your patience and understanding."