A disabled Dundee woman had to leave her home over the new year period for fear of creating more rubbish in her already “disgusting” garden.
Black bags have piled up in Dot Murray’s back garden after her bin went missing when the rubbish was last collected during the week between Christmas and New Year.
The bags were quickly targeted by seagulls and her carer saw a rat at one point.
Ms Murray, 57, reported the missing bin to housing association Home Group Scotland, who manage all the flats in the block. She was told that a new one would be ordered.
However, when taking this up directly with the council, she was told an order was never placed with them.
In the meantime, the state of the area deteriorated to the point she spent five nights at her mother-in-law’s house to prevent her filling more black bags to add to the heap.
Ms Murray suffers from mobility issues and needs crutches to walk. As a result, she is reliant on her own carer and the block’s domestic worker, who is contracted by Home Group Scotland and takes all the bins to the street for collection.
She said: “I just want to have my rubbish collected. I even kept full bags in the house so I didn’t add to the pile, but my husband was visiting and took it out. He said I can’t be living like that, but I didn’t want to add more outside because the seagulls have been getting to it.
“My carer took a bag out and even saw a rat in there. She dropped the bag and ran back inside. She was startled.
“I often have my grandchildren over and they love running about in the back garden but I’ve had to tell them not to because of it. It’s disgusting.
“I’ve been on the phone constantly about this and keep getting passed back and forth. Earlier this week I was on the phone for about four hours. I keep getting changed from one department to another. It’s frustrating.”
A Home Group Scotland spokesman issues an apology and said they would investigate the matter.
