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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Toni Lennox

Scots gran feared being bin-shamed as rubbish left to rot in garden for weeks

An Irvine gran claims her rubbish was left out in the garden to rot for weeks on end despite pleas to North Ayrshire Council to come and collect it.

Patricia Fisher, who lives with arthritis and osteoporosis, says her pull-out bin service was ignored from before Christmas.

The 56-year-old grandmother-of-two lived in fear of being bin-shamed.

She said: "It's just so frustrating, seeing all of your rubbish piling up like that. I don't want my neighbours to think badly of me, but what choice do I have?

"The rubbish is more than I normally would have because of Christmas wrappings and all the extra festive food.

"It's really hard. I don't know how I can be expected to live like this?

The mountain of rubbish piled up for weeks (Irvine Herald)

"It makes me feel disgusting, people must think the inside of my house looks the same. I don't know why I'm being treated like this?"

The ever-growing mountain of trash was said to have attracted foxes and other vermin – which set off the family dogs every night.

Ashley Ralston, Patricia's daughter, says she complained to the council five times and got nowhere.

Concerned daughter Ashley Ralston (Irvine Herald)

She said: "It is like a tip yard. My mum is quite house proud and it is upsetting to see all of her rubbish piled up.

"I moved in with mum before Christmas and the racket from the foxes at night is so difficult to live with. The dogs go nuts.

"The rubbish was even bigger than usual because of my recent move in, and all of the Christmas packages.

"I called the council to complain multiple times and I was just fobbed off."

The council acted after the Irvine Herald got in touch and the bins were finally collected Tuesday, January 26.

A spokesperson for the council blamed the bin collection delay on winter weather conditions.

They said: "The customer contacted us on December 31 to report an issue with their collection.

"The icy conditions earlier this month contributed to a delay in our resolution of this complaint.

"We apologise to the resident for any inconvenience caused by this recent issue and we can confirm the bins have now been emptied."

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