A growing pile of rubbish outside a grieving family's home has caused huge them embarrassment as mourners come and pay their respects.

The Chowdhrys' summer got off to a bad start when Juliet's father dying on August 12.

She flew out to Pakistan two days later, leaving husband Wilson in charge of their three children and Chigwell house.

A month later his aunt died.

With both parents busy and distracted with grief, they failed to notice that the bags of recycling they had placed outside their house was growing until the mound became unavoidable.

When they contacted Epping Forest District Council, the Chowdhrys were told the sacks were contaminated and could not be collected.

Mr Chowdhry, who is chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, said: "We have been coping with the death of my aunt and of my wife's dad so our minds were not on the rubbish.

"We are new to the area and still do not understand the council's recycling programme.

"We desperately need to know what recycling matter we need to take out of our bags to resolve the huge mess in front of our house which is no doubt causing our neighbours concern and has embarrassed our family hugely when friends came to visit to mourn our losses."

While Mr Chowdhry could dump the bags himself, the former Green Party council candidate is loathed to do so for environmental reasons.

He added: "I am also shocked that the council's team is suggesting every bag is contaminated and simply ignore our home without checking which bags are.

"This element of the service is extremely disconcerting and purely a perfunctory approach to an essential service.

"I would get rid of the rubbish myself, but it pains me to throw away recycling."

Although the council did not respond with an official statement, its customer service manager told Mr Chowdhry stickers should have been placed on contaminated bags which would then be removed.

They said: "I am sorry this process was not followed on this occasion with you, and unfortunately it would be difficult now to find out why this was not followed given the length of time that has elapsed.

"We will of course bring it to the attention of the supervisors of the crews, and I am sure they will take this matter up with all crews involved."