You've bin had

A policeman was sent 20 miles to tell a woman to move her dustbin. Debbie Allen put the bin outside her house to keep a parking space while she went shopping.

She moved it when she returned and parked her car in the spot reports The Sun.

Later a policeman called at her house in response to a complaint from a neighbour. He explained he had made a 20-mile round trip from Newquay to St Agnes in Cornwall to deal with the problem.

He warned Debbie that she would be fined if she carried on leaving her bin in the roadway.

Debbie said: "You can never get the police when you need them - yet they sent someone all that way just because of my bin. I put it out because we live on an estate and a lot of people park opposite our house. When I go shopping with the kids it's difficult to unload the car and keep an eye on them so I try to keep the spot free. I've probably only done it on a dozen occasions but obviously someone didn't like it and reported me. To be fair to the policeman he seemed to be embarrassed at having to come all this way just for a bin. But he warned me I could be done for obstructing the highway, even though my Vauxhall was parked between two other cars. It wasn't even blocking the roadway."