Thousands of Brits face a Christmas rat-astrophe after being forced to wait up to 28 days for festive rubbish collections – so binmen can have extra time off.

But while locals fear streets will be covered by mountains of discarded wrapping paper, Christmas dinner leftovers and dumped trees, leaving them prey to vermin.

However, having access to a shed could help millions of Brits from facing a Christmas rubbish nightmare as well as learning to crush rubbish as small as it can go.

Laura Bamborough, a refuse expert at Graden Buildings Direct, said: “Crush your rubbish as small as you possibly can to maximise your available bin space. Especially all those drinking cans and bottles – leave the lids off and flatten them. Stamp on big cardboard boxes until they’re flat and fold them down.”

She said that when the bins are maxed out, a run to the tip might be in order but until you can make the journey, you could temporarily make use of your traditional shed, garage or other outdoor storage.

She added: “Just make sure that’s the wrapping paper bag, not the Christmas dinner leftovers – waste food can attract rats.”

Residents of one Hertfordshire town face a double Christmas rubbish whammy with the eight week closure of their local dump.

Because it sits on the border of North Essex and East Herts residents in the market town of Bishop’s Stortford face a nearly 20 mile round trip to the nearest Hertfordshire facility in Ware.

The nearest centre is in Harlow, and residents have had to been given special permission to use the ‘out of council’ facility because it is in Essex, local paper The Bishop’s Stortford Independent reported people will need to book a slot to use it.

Residents already claim they are witnessing increased fly tipping with one disgrunted local noticing sofa beds and discarded children’s clothing on their local green.

Hertfordshire council said the closure was necessary to improve facilities which are widely used in the area including that around London’s third airport Stansted.