Campaigners who claimed the council treated their beloved pets like ‘rubbish’ after they had been involved in road accidents have won their first victory.

Last year, cat owners spent weeks trawling the streets of Waltham Forest to find their missing pets, some with scores of home-made flyers, only to find out from witnesses weeks later their pets had been swept up by the street cleaner or thrown in bins.

Outraged owners got together, asking why the council did not scan the pets – as all of theirs were chipped.

The council stated microchips are often broken in car collisions, however, both vets and manufactures disputed this on behalf of the campaign group.

Rachel Barrat 45, of Tallack Road in Leyton is a founding member of Waltham Forest Animal Protection.

She has come to an arrangement with the council to identify the felines.

Now, the colour, pattern and size of the cat, along with the date and location from where it was collected will be recorded.

This information will be passed on to Ms Barrat of, whose cat Fluffy, went missing at the end of October.

She will then share the information on Facebook via Walthamstow and North East London Missing Pets and Twitter via @furbabiesUk.

She said: “By sharing this information we hope to match the data with that of reported missing pets and hence be in a position to inform the owners one way or the other.”

Rosemary Clifford of Gordon Road in Leyton started a petition calling for the Council to scan all dead animals.

She added: “I am happy that the Council has listened to our concerns and have said they will act on them. “It causes untold stress not to know what has become of your beloved pet.

“I hope, where possible, the Council carries out their responsibilities and scans all pets found and informs the microchip company so that owners can be informed. According to the manufacturers, it is only in very rare cases that the microchip cannot be read.

“I sincerely hope that this sad state of affairs is addressed and other people will be saved the heartache that I and others have endured.”

The council maintains not all animals can be scanned.