A FURIOUS former lollipop lady said her party of Irvine is completely ignored by council cleaners and has been left to become a "pig sty".

Dolores Van Stone, who lives in Perceton Row, says it is a "disgrace" that even though her home is in an official conservation area, the nearby streets are left littered with rubbish and waste, while other areas enjoy regular visits from NAC cleansing staff.

And she told the Times that her neighbours, who include an 89-year-old lady, are forced off pavements because of the mess.

She said: "It's in a terrible state. There are broken bottles of Buckfast, old cans and folk are driving past and opening their windows to throw rubbish out.

"The problem is nobody is lifting the rubbish or cleaning the street. The council do a lot of things for people in places like Dreghorn that they don't do for us - it's terrible." Meanwhile, Dolores, who has lived at the historic miners' cottages for over 10 years and was the crossing attendant at Girdle Toll Primary, also said that after several bids to get something done about the problem, the neighbours even banded together to try and clean the streets up themselves.

She added: "We all try to keep the place nice but it is costing us money to do it.

"A few of us got together to take bags out and clean it up.

"But my son said I had to stop there are a lot of druggies out at the nearby underpass and the things we were picking up could cause us disease or we could even get killed." But council cleansing bosses have told the Times that they have received NO complaints about the area.

Craig Hatton, Head of Environment and Related Services for NAC, said: "We have not received any complaints about Perceton Row and the surrounding streets. These streets, along with all other street in North Ayrshire, are cleaned regularly as part of the Council's pre-planned maintenance schedule.

"Our local area officer will, however, carry out an inspection and increase the frequency of visits if required."