A PENSIONER says she is taking a stand against the Dorset Waste Partnership – by dumping two weeks' worth of uncollected recycling on its doorstep.

Jennifer Stewkesbury, aged 79, was told that she qualified for an assisted collection last April.

This service is available to those who are disabled or unable to move their bins.

Mrs Stewkesbury has boxes rather than bins and these will be collected from the back of her home – an area she can reach more easily.

However, 10 months since the agreement was reached, she claims that the DWP has consistently failed to collect her recycling.

As a response, Mrs Stewkesbury went to DWP headquarters near Dorchester and left four boxes of recycling on the doorstep.

She said: “I went 26 weeks without a collection at one point.

“To have an assisted collection would have been a blessing- if it had taken place.

“It was exactly what I needed. But it never happened.

“My contention is that if they don’t do the work they should not get the money.

“But it is not the bin men. I have no problem with them.

“They need to be told by the people in charge.”

In addition to this, Mrs Stewkesbury attempted to withhold £130 of council tax which she says she has calculated to be the amount that the DWP owe her.

But after being threatened with legal action, Mrs Stewkesbury has now made payment.

In answer to her claims, a spokesperson for the Dorset Waste Partnership said: “Every time a missed collection was reported to us and we were at fault, we sent a crew to pick up her recycling as soon as possible.

“We take these matters very seriously and will continue to work with Mrs.Stewkesbury to get this problem sorted as a matter of urgency."

Gill Taylor, Mrs Stewkesbury's ward councillor, said: “I have a lot of sympathy with her cause.

“But my view of Dorset Waste Partnership is that it has hugely improved compared to what it was

“There are a lot of teething problems and this is one of them.

“The teething problems should have settled down by now after 18 months. There are always going to be missed bins. But it has got be kept to a minimum.”