A RESIDENT with mobility issues who applied for assistance for her recycling collections said her rubbish has been piling up outside her flat for THREE months.

Claire Harrison, 46, of Dale Court, Dovercourt, lives in a first floor flat up a flight of stairs.

But she has a form of dementia and mobility issues which make getting up and down the stairs difficult.

She said she has been visited by Veolia and Tendring Council who agreed she could have assisted rubbish collections but she says no-one has collected her recycling since June.

Claire, who is a retired nurse, said: “I have a form of dementia and live up a flight of stairs.

“It takes me ages to get down the stairs so I applied for assisted collections.

“The paper bin is nearly full, so is the plastic bin and I have lots of cardboard boxes around the place too.”

She said her neighbours have helped and her pharmacy and supermarket both deliver her items up the stairs to her front door.

She said: “The council won’t go up the stairs to collect the rubbish.

“But they are happy for me to go down the stairs and potentially break my neck.”

Bill Davidson, Tendring councillor for Dovercourt Vines and Parkeston, has been trying to help Claire.

He said: “She’s a disabled woman who had applied for assisted collections and nothing has been done and she is still in the same position.”

A Veolia spokesman said: “We take assisted collections seriously and have organised a supervisor to visit Claire to check everything is in order and re-briefed our crews to ensure the service runs smoothly.”

A spokesman for Tendring Council, apologised and said:“We will investigate this case to make sure this resident has her recycling collected as it should be, and on behalf of ourselves and our contractors we are sorry that this has happened.”