Sunderland pensioner wins her bin battle with city council

Mother-of-four Verna Cole was angered after she said she was told by Sunderland City Council that she was going to be billed £25 for a replacement after it disappeared on collection day while she visited a mortuary with family.

Mrs Cole, 74, of Downhill, told the Echo after the theft last month: "I pay my bills, don’t ask for much and I don’t see why I should pay for a replacement when it was not my fault.

"I normally bring it back in straight away, but on this day I couldn’t.”

The city council has now provided her with a replacement green bin for free.

A grateful Mrs Cole said: “I am so happy that it is all sorted.

"I didn’t see why I should pay and still don’t now.

"I was going to take my rubbish to my daughter nearby because I didn’t want to leave mine in plastic bags because they would just attract vermin.

"And then one day the bin wagon turned up without explanation and dropped a new bin off.

"It must have been down to the Echo because the article must have shown the council up.”

The council, which declined to comment on the new bin, said in our original story that it would be contacting Mrs Cole to discuss the matter.

Council leader Councillor Graeme Miller added at the time: “We are very sorry to hear about what has happened and would like to send our sympathies to this lady for her bereavement."

Mrs Cole, who used to help her late husband, Alan, run his business providing logs and sticks for fireplaces, usually retrieves her bin as soon as it is emptied after a spate of similar thefts in the area.

She believes her original was probably taken by yobs and torched on nearby fields.

Now Mrs Cole, who used to work in Sunderland’s former Notarianni’s ice cream parlour, insists: “I will be watching it like a hawk to make sure this one doesn’t get taken as well.”

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