A MOTHER says she is having a two-year battle with the council about her rubbish collection.

Rachel Strachan, 35, from Wiston Road in Whitehawk, Brighton, is disabled and has been registered for assisted bin collection for a couple of years.

She has arthritis in her knees and ankles and has been diagnosed with chronic fatigue disorder.

She said: “I registered with the Brighton and Hove City Council to have assisted bin collection because I am disabled.

“I have to have naps in the day because of my condition and sometimes I don’t hear the bin men coming round so I have tried to make it clear to them that I need the assistance.

“I physically can’t lift the bins on to the road when they are due to be collected because of my health conditions which is why I signed up for help.”

Rachel lives with husband Tom, who has a bad back, and daughters Abbie, 15 and Paisley, nine.

They have now started putting their recycling in the normal rubbish bin because they say their recycling is not being collected.

Rachel said she has tried to call Cityclean, which runs the recycling collection in Brighton, but struggled to get through to it.

She has also raised her concerns with the binmen and women when she sees them on the street outside her house.

Rachel said: “It’s ridiculous.

“They want us to recycle to help the planet and go through the effort of telling us what to recycle and what not to recycle.

“But if they can’t help me dispose of it properly then it just has to go into the normal bin which is just really frustrating.

“The regular binmen who take normal waste are really good and understand the assisted collection system, they always help collect the general waste without fail.

“I even bought stickers off Amazon to put on the bin to warn that I need help emptying the bin because of my disability.”

Rachel said during the recycling collection last week her family managed to get the bin down on to the pavement and it was the only one that wasn’t emptied along the entire road.

She said: “I couldn’t believe it when I saw that every single bin was clean apart from ours, even though we had managed to get it down on to the road.

“I have tried calling about this and nothing is done and I have had enough.

“The council know perfectly well that I am registered for assisted bin collections but they seem to not do anything about it.

“I am disabled, there’s not much I can do about this.”

A council spokesman said: “Our records show that Ms Strachan has had two missed collections in 12 months, on April 26 last year and on Tuesday of last week, which she contacted us about.

“Our records also show the previous time Ms Strachan contacted us, on March 6 this year, to complain about the collection crew because they would not remove bulky waste she had left beside her bin, which the council doesn’t collect.

“In that email Ms Strachan claimed we had removed ‘half a sofa’ from her neighbour’s house because he ‘works for your company’, both of which are absolutely false.

“She also made a similar complaint to us around 18 months ago, on November 16 2017, when we told her the council does not remove bulky waste and to contact a company called KSD on 01273 608142.”