A waste amnesty had to be abandoned within hours at two Norfolk recycling centres, because too many people turned up with paint tins.

People can no longer dump paint at Norfolk County Council-run recycling centres. Officials say the ban saves taxpayers £300,000 a year.

The block is lifted at different centres around the county for a single weekend each year.

But queues built up as this year's amnesty got under way at King's Lynn and Caister. Almost 70 tonnes of paint was collected within a few hours - more than 20 times the amount collected at an amnesty at the two sites last year.

Customers were turned away because staff feared they had too much waste to store safely.

Kate Murrell, Norfolk County Council's waste reduction and recycling manager, said: 'Our recycling centres in King's Lynn and Caister experienced an unprecedented number of visitors last weekend because of the hazardous waste amnesty.

'Although we expected to receive large volumes of waste and an increase in visitors, the actual number far exceeded all reasonable projections based on our previous experiences. In fact, we received as much hazardous waste in one weekend as we have in the past across all amnesty sites in the county

'This extraordinary demand meant that despite all our contingency arrangements and the incredible hard work and commitment of operatives in our recycling centres, it wasn't possible to continue to store the hazardous waste safely and we were unable to continue to accept deliveries. 'I know some of those visitors who were turned away from our centres in King's Lynn and Caister last weekend feel frustrated, and that was the last thing we wanted to achieve but refusing their deliveries was necessary for the safety of staff, visitors and the sites. We are looking at what we can do now to help those people in these affected areas, and have also been working very closely with the contractor to ensure there are suitable plans in place for the next hazardous waste amnesty this weekend.'

Dennis Durrant of Brett Avenue Gorleston, travelled to Caister on Sunday afternoon to dispose of around 10 tins of paint but was turned away.

He said he felt 'let down' having dutifully stored the paint ahead of the annual amnesty.

Being told he could take it to Coltishall instead the following weekend - a round trip of 50 miles - added to his upset.

'It was a waste of a Sunday afternoon,' he said. 'I just don't understand why they cannot just have another day if there is that much demand. They are water-based paints so not dangerous. To my mind it was a bit of a let down.'

Mr Durrant said other people were also being turned away and that he tried to warn people heading towards the centre.

The recycling centre at Pump Lane was moved and remodelled in 2012, in a a £1m scheme to end delays and closures and improve recycling rates.

The Lynn recycling centre is included in county councillor Alexandra Kemp's Clenchwarton and South Lynn ward.

'I have made a formal complaint about the poor service offered at the waste amnesty weekend,' she said. 'Turning residents away and closing at 1pm on Sunday was unacceptable.

'I definitely think the charges introduced in this year's budget were wrong. It's leading to fly-tipping, people aren't taking their rubbish in, they're hoarding it up.

'If there's such an unprecedented response to a waste amnesty, there's something going badly wrong here and it needs to be put right.'

As well as the ban on disposing of paint outside of amnesty weekends, the county council now only accepts a limited amount of DIY waste unless customers pay a charge of between £30 and £68 depending on the quantity they bring. Countryside campaigners say the charges, introduced this spring, have led to increased fly tipping.