The build-up of waste at the Baldovie site was such that the council gave the order to close the gates — leaving members of the public frustrated they could not dispose of their rubbish.

One Douglas couple said they were concerned things had got out of hand after being refused entry to Baldovie on Saturday afternoon.

“We aren’t due to have our bins emptied for two weeks now, so we took a run up to Baldovie and were turned away by a council sign saying ‘Site closed, all skips full’,” the couple said.

“The skips didn’t look that full to us and we don’t think the council are doing anything to resolve this matter.

“No one was getting into the site yesterday either, and it’s a real concern.”

A council spokesman said this afternoon the authority closed the Baldovie site on Saturday afternoon before re-opening it yesterday morning.

However, one Broughty Ferry resident refuted the council claims today, saying the Baldovie site was closed when he tried to dump garden waste there yesterday afternoon.

“When I got to Baldovie there was already a van and a car in front of me, which had been forced to stop because the gates had been closed and there were signs up saying it was an official picket,” he told the Tele.

“I don’t think the Unite guys were actually refusing entry, but people were choosing to turn back because they didn’t want to get involved in crossing a picket line.

“It was annoying, because I was left with a load of rubbish in the back of my car I wasn’t able to get rid of.

“There needs to be clearer communication to the public about what is happening with the dispute between Unite and the council and what effect there will be on services.”

According to the union, the pickets were there to protest against the council’s change in working arrangements, as well as their decision to use private contractors during the strike.

Around 20 workers protested at both the Baldovie and Marchbank sites over the weekend.

Unite regional organiser Colin Coupar said, “The pickets at Baldovie and Marchbanks were concerned about private contractors, who are being used by the council to break the overtime ban.

“If they couldn’t get rid of the skips, the local authority would have to close down the site, which is what, I guess, they did.”

Mr Coupar said, despite the disruption, strike action would continue until the council did a U-turn over its newly-imposed pay rates.

“For the last two weekends, in response to the council’s action, we too have taken action,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is affect households in the city, but, at the moment, we cannot get anyone to speak to us.

“We will now scale up the action and all three civic amenity sites in the city will be closed from next weekend.”

A council spokesman said, “The Marchbanks, Riverside and Baldovie recycling centres were operating over the weekend.

“The containers at Baldovie were full on Saturday afternoon and the recycling centre was temporarily closed on health and safety grounds.

“The Baldovie centre was re-opened on Sunday morning and operated normally throughout the day, as did the other centres in the city.”

The three sites are due to be closed this weekend and subsequent weekends until the dispute is resolved.