Wrong side of the bed

I NEED to get rid of a pine double bed and mattress. My local council, Lambeth, will charge me £21.50 to take it to the tip, but first I have to dismantle it and put it on the pavement because they are not insured to enter my property and remove it.

When I said I couldn’t carry the bed out of the house because I am a retired single woman, the council suggested Age Concern could move the mattress to the pavement for

me. Apparently, charities can come into my property.

However, Age Concern tells me the rate is £40 per hour, per person. As it is a double mattress, that means two men.

With the costs mounting up for a service I assumed I had already paid for in my council tax, it would be far cheaper to pay a couple of passers-by a fiver each to drag the mattress into the road, pile the wood on top and burn it, and then I’d pay the fine for committing a nuisance.

It’s no wonder that flytipping is on the increase.

JILL DAVIES, London SE27.