A DISABLED couple say they are living in fear after being threatened with a fine of up to £1,000 by council bosses.

Father Charles Anderson, 63, of Hartington Street, Dalton, has been locked in a dispute with Barrow Borough Council for years over the waste disposal facilities at the block of flats where he lives with his bed-bound wife Monia.

Despite the building being home to six flats housing more than 10 people, only five bins have been provided by Barrow Borough Council for the entire block, prompting Fr Anderson to ask for a larger communal bin.

However, he says his calls have been ignored and instead the council has sent him a letter under Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 threatening to fine him up to £1,000 if he doesn't put all of his rubbish in the bins provided.

Fr Anderson said: "They are making demands of us that we can't fulfil. They have got no viable plan to support disabled people and to dispose of our rubbish.

"We are living in terror that if they give us an on-the-spot fine I would have to hire someone to fight for me or I might have to go to court in an ambulance."

Mr Anderson was injured in an accident at work in 1978 and now suffers from a host of health problems including trigemic neuralgia which causes severe pain to the face and chronic sciatica. His American wife Monia, 38, suffers from Guillain-Barré syndrome which has left her bed-bound.

Fr Anderson said: "For my wife the pain is as bad as cancer. We have been married for 15 years but this is putting a huge strain on our relationship. I am getting worse and God forbid if anything happened to me before Monia's time is up."

The priest has also complained of a lack of recycling facilities and fly-tipping. However, he was bewildered when Colin Garnett, Barrow Borough Council's assistant director for housing, called on residents to keep an eye out for fly-tippers.

Fr Anderson said: "They told us that if we see people fly-tipping we should tell them but I can't be expected to go running down the steps after them.

"It is a free-for-all out there. They want us to recycle but there are no facilities to do it because all of the boxes have been stolen and if anything extra is put out they won't pick it up. Where are we supposed to put bin bags? In our kitchen?

"It should be illegal what they're doing. They're using an arm of government to demand things off people who can't do things for themselves."

Last month the Evening Mail reported how residents of the same block of flats were outraged after they said more than 30 bin bags were ignored by binmen for more than a month.

Colin Garnett, Barrow Borough Council's assistant director for housing, said: "We have a problem in that area where people are not disposing of their rubbish suitably and we remind people that it is an offence to do that.

"In this particular case a letter has gone to all residents."

"I hope that the provision of the bins that have been put there have helped them overcome the difficulties they have had and it helps them to dispose of waste more appropriately."