A WHEELCHAIR-bound pensioner and his disabled wife say they have been in a two-month battle with their dustmen - who keep forgetting to take their rubbish.

Thomas Flinders, 71, who is registered blind and cannot walk, and his wife Betty, 79, who is frail and suffers from epilepsy, cannot wheel their bin to the front of their house for collection.

They say City of York Council agreed in November to tell dustmen to collect their wheeled bin from the back of their property.

But the couple, of Woodlea Avenue, Acomb, York, say the dustmen forget to collect it every week.

Mr Flinders, a retired TV repairman and shopkeeper, said: "We keep hoping the bin men will remember, but every week they seem to forget us.

"I'm fed up of ringing the council to complain about it.

"They always send someone to fetch the rubbish the next day, but that's not the point.

"Why can't they get it right the first time?"

He added: "Our councillor, David Horton, has also been ringing up to complain for us, but it seems to fall on deaf ears."

The couple received a letter from the council in December, confirming their rubbish was being taken under the special bin collection for the disabled. But Mr Flinders says an agreement was originally made in November and the dustmen had been missing them out ever since.

"I'm so fed up of complaining that I've left it for three weeks now and our bin is overflowing," he said. "The council gave us a special bigger grey bin because I have a lot of medical rubbish, but it still fills up."

A City of York Council spokeswoman said: "We can only apologise to Mr and Mrs Flinders for the inconvenience this has caused. We always try to help residents who are unable to move their wheelie bins to the front of their property.

"We recognise that some mistakes have been made while the crews adjust to the new rounds and hope the initial problems will be overcome."

She said dustmen would be sent to empty the couple's overflowing bin.

Updated: 11:26 Monday, January 23, 2006