AN elderly couple who struggled to move their old sofa found a guardian angel - their ward councillor who came to the rescue with 'strong men'.

Geoffrey Edge, 84, and wife Sheila, 79, of Rodborough Drive, Warndon, Worcester, were perfectly happy to pay for the bulky household waste collection service.

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However, they both struggled to get the old sofa out of their first-floor flat for collection as part of the bulky household waste collection service run by Worcester City Council.

But, thanks to Labour's Warndon councillor Jill Desayrah, they were able to get help from 'strong backs and willing hands' to shift the sofa outside ready for collection - and it has now been taken away.

Mrs Edge said: "It was an awful job to get anybody interested. I tried to contact the city council, the county council and Platform Housing and they all said they can't do it.

"Nobody wanted to know unless it was outside the flat. We could not get it down by ourselves."

However, she said as soon as the couple contacted Cllr Desayrah, her husband and two men came to their aid, helping them get the sofa downstairs on Monday.

The old sofa was collected the following day, earning high praise from the couple who were previously at a loss to know what to do.

"She is very efficient - we want more like her," said Mrs Edge of the Warndon councillor.

Before her intervention, the couple were forced to store the old sofa on their landing which was far from ideal.

"I got two guys with muscle to get it down the steps after I said 'can you help this couple out?'" said Cllr Desayrah.

Cllr Desayrah said she was only too glad to help when she received the call.

The couple also got help from the men who delivered the new sofa who kindly cut up the old one, making it much easier to move.

"They had a sofa they physically could not move but were happy to pay the council £15 to come and collect it. But they had to get it on the street ready for collection. There was no way they could manage it," she said.

The bulky waste service is for domestic customers for the collection of items such as household appliances including microwaves, cookers, washing machines, fridges and freezers, electrical appliances such as TVs and PCs, beds and mattresses, bags of garden waste and rolls of carpet.

The service is chargeable and the cost must be paid in full at the time of booking. 

A spokesperson for Worcester City Council said: “At present we offer a collection service of bulky items, which we ask people to leave at the front of their property, we don’t go into homes and move furniture.

“We are currently investigating whether we could improve the service we offer, perhaps in association with other partners, but these investigations are at a very early stage.”