A mother-of-three has said she is dreading the flood of rubbish that comes with Christmas after maggots were left to thrive in uncollected waste outside her home.

“Hundreds” of the insects crawled through Emily Feeley’s front door in Market Square, Waltham Abbey, after rubbish from six flats was left untouched for a week after the collection date.

It came as councillor Will Breare-Hall, responsible for waste collection in Epping Forest, admitted in a district council report that “some issues remain to be resolved” in the ongoing missed collection saga.

Rubbish and recycling pick-ups have been frequently missed since contractor Biffa started a four-day collection schedule in May this year, although cllr. Breare-Hall said “the number of missed collections and customer complaints has fallen”.

Ms Feeley, 28, has lived in her council flat since January and she says rubbish is often left at the pick-up point just feet from her front door.

She said: “The bin men pick and choose when they can be bothered to take it, and I find myself on the phone to the council every week, as do my next door neighbours.”

Last week the issue led to maggots thriving and they began to come into her home, where she lives with her three children, the youngest just one-year-old.

“I was out for two hours – bleaching, salting and pouring boiling water outside my front door to try to kill and get rid of what looked to be hundreds of maggots.

“Only to find, when I woke in the morning, they are crawling up my door and in my door frame so when I opened my door they fell in my home - where me and my three children live.

“I am constantly on edge that they are crawling into my home, which is clean and well kept.

“I find that this issue has caused me… a great amount of stress, affecting mine and my children’s daily life.”

She added: “I do not want my one-year-old crawling down the hallway because there were maggots coming in the door – what if he put one in his mouth?”

The bags were eventually collected last week after multiple calls to the council, but Ms Feeley is concerned it will happen again.

“I am worried about Christmas coming up now, when there will be twice as much rubbish.

“I should be looking forward to Christmas with my kids, not worrying about the rubbish.”

The council have been contacted for comment.