MAGGOTS have caused misery for older people living in sheltered housing after the vermin got under carpets in their communal living areas.

The disgusting maggots were found on and under the carpets in the laundry and communal kitchen area at St Margaret’s Court in Bradford on Avon on September 24.

The elderly people who live there say they spent 24 hours trying to get housing provider Selwood Housing and Wiltshire Council to take the issue seriously.

Residents believe that a missed bin collection is the cause of the filth which led to maggots coming through a back door and into the housing block.

Wiltshire Council has since cleaned and emptied the bins and Selwood caretakers have removed the dirty carpet tiles, but residents believe they should have acted sooner to stop the spread of maggots into their home.

Resident David James said: “This is sheltered housing but we don’t get any help. Getting somthing as important as this done has taken a lot of time and two days of effort.

“We like to keep this place clean, one man is 94 but he cleans and organises the bins. He shouldn’t have to do that.

“Wiltshire Council said it’s Selwood’s job and Selwood say bins are council only, no one will take responsibility.

“The bins haven’t been emptied and they were only done this morning after lots of shouting, otherwise nothing would have been done.”

Wendy Northam has lived there for 12 years and said: “Two men came to sanitise the bins and one man said he didn’t know why the bins hadn’t been done the day before.

“We have vulnerable people living here, and with the filth that maggots leave I told people to be careful.

“I wanted someone to see it but Selwood just said send a video and pictures. It’s their attitude, it’s as though they just don’t care.

“They are supposed to be caring people, and Wiltshire Council are to blame for not clearing the bins.”

A spokesman for Selwood said: “Following a missed rubbish collection at St Margaret’s Court on September 16, we contacted Wiltshire Council the same day to rearrange.

“We received a report of maggots in the bin area on September 24 and directly escalated the matter to the council’s refuse contractor.

“As a result, the bins were emptied on September 25.

“Our caretaking team also carried out a deep clean of the area that morning, once the rubbish had been removed.

“The team checked the surrounding area thoroughly and disinfected and removed carpet tiles from an inside corridor close to the door, where some maggots were found.

“We will monitor the area for a week before relaying the cleaned carpet tiles.”

Wiltshire Council confirmed that a bin collection was missed on September 16 and contractors were notified.

However they were not emptied until eight days later after further complaints were made by residents when they noticed increasing amounts of maggots.