A fleet of council wheelie bins from south-east London has turned up in a protest camp on the doorstep of Heathrow airport - 25 miles away.

The Lewisham Council domestic waste bins have been spotted being used by protestors at the Camp for Climate Action, which is demonstrating against the expansion of Heathrow airport.

About 900 campaigners have set up the camp near the villages of Sipson and Harlington in Middlesex, between the M4 and the airport's northern perimeter.

Protesters claim the increase in the use of air travel is a major factor in greenhouse gas emissions.

The council has denied supplying the bins and is confused as to how they ended up on the site.

A spokesman said: "The wheelie bins which have turned up at Heathrow and are being used by protestors have not been donated by Lewisham Council.

"We are currently investigating how some of our domestic waste bins have been moved to this location.

He added: "We haven't donated them or taken them up there or anything like that.

"We have a suspicion they might be decommissioned bins with missing wheels and broken lids but we don't know and are trying to find out."

The spokesman said the council would not have donated the bins as it has to keep politically neutral in such occasions.

Camp for Climate Action spokesman Penny Eastwood said: "Bins are not the issue here, the issue is climate change."

Her colleague Paul Sumburn added: "We will try to find out where the bins came from.

"We suspect they have been decommissioned and were about to be recycled."