Terminally ill man pleads for help with bin collections (From Borehamwood Times)

Terminally ill man pleads for help with bin collections

3:09pm Thursday 11th October 2012 in News By Anna Slater

A man with terminal lung disease is pleading the council to help him out with his bin collections.

Ivor Kennedy, of Banks Road, Borehamwood, has always left his green and black bins on the grass verge behind his house, opposite Leigh Court, on collection days.

But the 60-year-old, who can “barely walk without getting out of breath”, claims Hertsmere Borough Council told him that the third bin - the  brown one - must be wheeled to the front of his house, otherwise it will not be collected. 

He said: “I physically cannot move the bin to the front because my chest is very painful and it is always heavy, full of glass, plastic and cans.

“I do not understand what the problem is. If they can pick up my green and black bin from there, surely it makes no difference. It seems very strange and odd to me.

“I am feeling disappointed and let down by the council. I ask them for help as a disabled person but they say there is nothing they can do. It is not fair.”

The father-of-three, who also has sleep apnoea, said his full brown bin was not collected this morning as a result of being “in the wrong place”.

He also said that he cannot ask his wife, Polly, to help him move the bin to the front because she is recovering from back surgery.

He added: “I have to take a cocktail of drugs to help me breathe and it is not unreasonable for me to want help with my bin collections.

“I really hope they start helping me soon otherwise I do not know what I am going to do.”

The Borehamwood Times is awaiting comment from Hertsmere Borough Council.