A BRIDGWATER resident waited more than three weeks for her rubbish to be taken after bin men missed her fortnightly collection.

Margaret Fitch, 70, lives on Parkway in Bridgwater and has assisted rubbish collections because of osteoarthritis and epilepsy.

Her black wheelie bin was collected on September 14, but the next collection on September 28 was missed.

“I have been on assistance collection for years, my husband passed away six years ago and we were on it before that because he couldn’t move the bins,” she said.

“This is the first time this has happened.

“It is a health hazard and from my point of view, rats could be a big problem.

“I have been in a worried state about it, thinking about rats being in the bins. I don’t think this is something that should happen.

“At the end of the day, why do I pay my council tax if I can’t even get my bin collected?

“There might be some people who have assisted collection that are sitting and waiting but I am not one of those people.”

After two complaints to Somerset Waste Partnership, Mrs Fitch had her bins emptied three weeks and two days later - on October 7.

A spokesperson from Somerset Waster Partnership said: “We are very sorry for the problems this resident has faced.

"All her rubbish should now have been collected, and the error corrected so future collections will be back to usual.

“Any missed collections should be reported after 7pm on the due day using the online ‘My Waste Services’ system at somersetwaste.gov.uk.”