Disabled mother-of-four dumps her £120 sofa on the front lawn because she says she can't afford the £150 cost to take it to the tip

Andrea Cassidy, 26, hired £70 van to take the three-piece suite to the tip

But employee in Dover, Kent, said she had to pay £80 to leave sofa on site

She has now left the settee on her garden, claiming she cannot afford fee 

Council spokesman said Ms Cassidy could use collection service for £31



Andrea Cassidy, 26, from Dover, Kent, has dumped her sofa on her front lawn because she says she cannot afford the fee to take it to the nearby tip

A disabled mother-of-four dumped her £120 sofa on the front lawn because she says she cannot afford the £150 to take it to the tip.

Andrea Cassidy hired a £70 van to take her old three-piece suite to the tip but was told she had to pay another £80 to leave the settee on site.

The 26-year-old, from Dover, Kent, says she has now put her sofa - which she bought from the British Heart Foundation - on the front lawn because she could not afford to pay the fee to the Dover Household Waste Recycling Centre.

She said: 'It was totally and utterly ridiculous. I was very upset and very frustrated. I was like: "Are you kidding? You surely have to be joking me".'

Ms Cassidy said she struggles to push a vacuum cleaner around at home and has to use crutches due to a medical condition affecting her muscles, meaning she has to rely on other people for help.

She said: 'I could understand if it was a van full of stuff but it's only little. They could've just used their common sense and let us through.

'I pay my council tax. What a total jobsworth. It's as if they're saying "why don't you just go and fly tip?".'



A spokesman for Kent County Council said the rules were introduced to stop traders illegally using them to dispose of industrial waste.

They said: 'In Dover, residents can dispose of bulky items, such as a sofa, by contacting the district council.

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