Bin collections have been branded ‘cruel’ and ‘shameful’ by residents.

Wychavon District Council announced that bin collections would be taking place as normal on Monday, the day of the Queen’s funeral.

The decision, announced on social media, has been met with animosity by residents who feel it shows a lack of respect.

Responding to the post, Keith Atkins wrote: “Is one day of respect too much to ask for 70 years of dedication and service.

“Shame on you.”

Another local, Duncan Day, commented: “Absolute joke, let the bin men have time off to pay their respects.”

Pershore resident, Jo Dawson, added: “Really Wychavon, how cruel are you?

“If the binmen have to work, then so should you.

“Shame on you Wychavon, shame on you.”

Councillor Bradley Thomas, leader of Wychavon, apologised but explained that there were multiple reasons behind the decision.

He said: "We know this decision will be upsetting for some people and we apologise for any offence caused. We have the utmost respect for HM The Queen and her decades of dedicated service to this country and it was a difficult decision to make.

“The advice we received from the Government was essential services should continue and not be disrupted during the period of National Mourning including the Bank Holiday.

“We also had to weigh up several other factors including the amount of disruption making changes to collections would have on the service for the remainder of the week after the funeral, the need for crews to work the weekend to catch up and the difficulty of advertising such significant changes to our bin collection service at short notice, which may have resulted in a large number of people not having their bin collected putting further pressure on the service to go back and collect.”

Councillor Thomas added that crews will pause at 11:55am to join in the two minutes silence and have been asked to minimise disruption during the time the funeral is taking place.

"We are aware some councils have chosen not to collect on Monday,” he added.

“That is a decision for them. Each authority must decide based on their own local circumstances, as we have done. Equally there are councils who are collecting on Monday like us.”