A Suffolk council has apologised after sending out thousands of cards reminding homes to renew garden waste subscriptions with incorrect dates and missing phone numbers.

East Suffolk Council issued renewal invitations to homes in March when it was still Suffolk Coastal, reminding people to renew their annual subscriptions to the garden waste collection service.

But more than 5,000 reminders were sent with a deadline date before the day they were delivered, and a phone number missing six digits.

The council has apologised for the errors, and said that people can renew their subscription at any time.

“We have had some teething problems with the first round of renewal invitations sent out since the garden waste scheme started,” a council spokeswoman said.

“The renewal invitations were sent out in what was Suffolk Coastal in March to residents with subscriptions ending on 30 April.

“The majority of these – around 11,000 – were sent by email and arrived on time.

“On 10 April, we were informed that some 5,100 postcards had been held up at the mail depot and were subsequently lost.

“As soon as we were told this, arrangements were made to re-print and post the cards, we put the information on our website and on our social media accounts.

“However, in our rush to get the cards out to residents, we forgot to change the date on them and put an incomplete telephone number on them.

“As a result of this, some residents have now received invitations that are out of date and with the wrong details.

“We sincerely apologise to those affected by this and want to reassure residents that they can renew their subscription at any time and receive a full 12 months of collections.

“Renewal can be done online at my.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/home or by calling our customer service team on 03330 162000, choosing option 0.”

The renewal cards mark the first time the council has needed to issue them, as the subscription charge for fortnightly brown and green bin collections has only been underway for a year.

For homes which did not subscribe last year but wish to sign up for garden waste collections this year, can do so at any point in the year.