A PENSIONER was forced to call the emergency services for help after waiting five weeks for council workers to take unwanted furniture from her garden.

Sheila Hanson, of Walmsley Close, Church, took the matter into her own hands after a three-piece suite, double bed and double mattress, became an eyesore.

Sheila, 64, called the fire brigade and asked if it would be OK to burn the furniture.

Soon afterwards she received a call from the police who said the Hyndburn Council would come out the next day. The rubbish has now been cleared. Today the council apologised for the delay and said extra staff had been taken on to clear the backlog.

Mrs Hanson, who has three children, said: "I rang the fire brigade and asked them if I could set fire to it because I couldn't get it out of my back gate. They said it might be dangerous, and the next thing I know I got a call from the police."

Today the fire brigade said it could not confirm the pensioner had called, as such a complaint would not be logged. But Mrs Hanson, who is disabled after having her knee rebuilt and plates put in her leg, said: "I was very upset having to resort to that. In the end I did the right thing.

"I didn't say I was going to set fire to it.

"It has been sorted out but I am a bit disappointed with Hyndburn Council at the moment."

Coun Ann Scaife, Hyndburn Council's portfolio holder for environment and cleansing, said: "We are really sorry for any inconvenience caused by delays in removing bulky household waste recently.

"This situation arose because of a combination of a huge increase in the number of requests over the past few months and by the recent roll-out of a further 12,000 wheeled bins across the borough, which have all had to be delivered by cleansing staff.

"In order to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, a number of collection teams will be deployed over the following two Saturday mornings to clear the backlog."