A skip service provided for Passover by Barnet Council seems to have bin ignored by some residents in Hendon.

A huge pile of rubbish was sprawled out in Wykeham Road yesterday morning, after a full skip was removed the previous night.

The service is being provided for the Jewish community in the days preceding Passover for residents to dispose of chometz - food or drink containing grain that has been in contact with water.

Non-festival waste, including a Dyson vacuum cleaner and paint tins, has been taking up skip space, which has caused the large over flow onto the road and pavement.

Michael Peters, who lives opposite the rubbish pile, said: "It is a shame people are taking advantage of the service and abusing the facility.

"People have been coming to drop there rubbish off as late as 1pm, and if the skip isn't there, they just leave it.

"I hope the council clears it and doesn't happen again because it does become an eyesore."

Aron Blank, who was also using the skip in the road, said: "It doesn't look very nice.

"If they is going to be a service, a skip should be provided all the time for the rubbish."

The skip are being left in 17 locations across the borough, and were expect to just be dealing with food waste, although cardboard, a cupboard and a trolley full of sacks had been left in Wykeham Road.

A spokesman for the council said the excess rubbish had been dumped next to the full skip, which had been collected and an empty one placed nearby.

He said: "The streetscene supervisor overseeing the Passover skip operation was aware of the excess rubbish and organised for a back-up refuse vehicle to attend as soon as possible to clear it."

The spokesman added that residents have a responsibility not to abuse the service.

"All Passover skip sites are clearly marked with these official notice boards and people who want to use them are asked to help keep each site clean and tidy," he said.

"We encourage people not to use the skips to dispose of other waste such as bulky household goods, white goods, commercial waste and builders waste."

The skips have been available from Wednesday until mid-day today.