A STUNNED pensioner was forced to return to her local tip on four consecutive days after being told her eight small bags of rubbish were too much to dump in one go.

A STUNNED pensioner was forced to return to her local tip on four consecutive days after being told her eight small bags of rubbish were too much to dump in one go.

Vera Burrell described the Suffolk County Council legislation - which permits only two bags, per person, per day - as “sexist and ageist” after the incident at the Sudbury Waste and Recycling Centre in Sandy Lane.

And he warned that the “petty” ruling could lead to a dramatic increase in fly-tipping across the county unless more commonsense was shown.

Mrs Burrell, from Great Cornard, said: “Having recently had some re-tiling work carried out and being a responsible citizen, I bagged all the old bathroom tiles and off-cuts into eight small sacks and took them up to the tip.

“There I was told that the rule was 'only two bags per person, per day' were allowed to be deposited. So three more frustrating journeys were made with the resulting congestion, pollution, waste of time and petrol to empty the remaining six bags on top the rubbish I left before.

“This rule is not only ridiculous - it is ageist and sexist. Had I been younger, the bags would have been twice the size, had I been male, three times the size. More to the point, less trustworthy people could be encouraged to fly-tip.”

She added: “I understand that there has to be some control to stop people unloading tonnes of stuff. But I'm a little old lady who is nearly 80 - you think they would be able to tell the difference.”

A spokesman for Suffolk County Council said: “We are sorry that Mrs Burrell experienced difficulty disposing of her waste at our site, but this policy was introduced for good reason.

“The limit for this type of waste is only two bags that can be lifted by the person bringing them to the site, per day. The reason is that the sites are not provided for this type of waste.

“Our statutory duty is to provide sites for householders to dispose of their own household waste. This excludes items from the fabric of the construction of the property, for example bricks, plasterboard, soil, sand and hardcore.”