Vast numbers of people are trying to register for the green waste collection service.

A £25 charge for council workers to be collect garden waste across Three Rivers will come into force on Monday, July 11.

From April next year, this fee will rise to £35.

A pre-recorded message has been set up warning callers Three Rivers District Council is experiencing high call volumes and may not pick up.

One call handler at the authority told the Watford Observer: “We are incredibly busy. There are calls queuing constantly.

“It is mostly the green waste collection fee. The whole district are having to register for the collection, they can register online, but most of the residents are just calling us to sign up for it.”

Three Rivers District Council blamed cuts in government funding for the charge.

People can opt out of paying for the brown bins to be collected, and therefore avoiding the charge, but they will have to dispose of their garden waste themselves.

People on benefits will be eligible to pay a lower annual charge of £20 from July and £28 from next April.

Recipients of housing benefits, whether it is paid by the council or as part of the Universal Credit scheme administered by the Department for Work and Pensions and people who get an income-based council tax reduction will qualify for the reduced fee.

Five thousand and twenty seven people qualify for a lower rate in the district.

Three Rivers District Council set up a consultation to see whether people would be prepared to pay for its collection. This finished on Wednesday, October 21 and residents hope the proposal will be scrapped.

Residents have branded the charge as “just another form of tax”.