A FAMILY of five whose extra large rubbish bin was accidentally crushed by a council dustcart are ‘peeved’ they are only being offered a smaller substitute.

Brenda Baker, 67, of Furness Road, Harrow, said her supersized green wheelie bin for unrecyclable waste disappeared after the binmen made the fortnightly collection on Monday last week.

A Harrow Council call worker told her because the authority does not issue the larger capacity 360-litre bins any more, she could have a free normal-sized 240-litre bin but a second one costs £46.

Mrs Baker said: “I’m peeved off. They took my bin and all I want is like-for-like replacement.

“We are pensioners and we don’t have the money to afford the second bin and besides which, it’s the principle of the thing.”

Mrs Baker lives with husband Colin, 79, daughter Elizabeth Rimmer, 33, Elizabeth’s husband Craig Smith, 36, and Colin’s granddaughter Karina Baker, 20, and so decided to pay extra when the coloured wheelie bin system was first introduced to receive the extra large bin.

“We have five of us in this house, and five cats with all their cat litter, and we need the bigger bin,” said the retired BT clerical worker. “It’s always full by the time they come to collect it.”

And there are more pressing practical problems.

Mrs Baker said: “The woman at the council said they will send a bin out in two weeks’ time so I said: ‘What do I do about my rubbish in the meantime?’

“She said ‘Leave it indoors’ and I said ‘You’re joking? It will smell’, and she said ‘That’s not my problem’.”

The family suffered the same fate four years ago when their larger green bin was swallowed by the rubbish lorry, but that time they received a replacement from the council.

Harrow Council’s divisional director for environment John Edwards said: “We apologise for the inconvenience caused and we have arranged for a replacement bin to be delivered.

“Unfortunately, 360-litre bins are no longer available for residential addresses which is why a like-for-like replacement cannot be delivered.

“The 360-litre bins were used at a time when recycling bins were not in use.

“However, these days residents are given three bins for general waste, recycling, and garden waste – each of which can hold up to 240 litres of waste.

“The combined storage space adds up to 720 litres – exactly double the amount of space residents once had when the 360 litre bins were used.”