This the very same council which takes her council tax, and because she lives out in the sticks, the only service she gets for all that tax is her bin collection.

Sickening isn't it?

Sickeningly simplistic, sickeningly headline-grabbing and sickeningly untrue.

Yet this is the picture of Ribble Valley which made the nationals and TV in the past week and had too many of us tutting in disgust without considering the bigger picture, the true picture.

The truth is Ribble Valley Council, like others across the UK, is having to move to a wheelie bin system to meet the recycling targets set for it, targets we should all care about if we care about the planet we live on.

The truth is this new system will inevitably mean changes to the routine we have grown comfortable with. There are bound to be teething troubles, individual cases and particular problems which have to be resolved.

The truth is the council does care and will do all in its power to address each case and each problem, to resolve it as best it can, but that takes time. Nobody gets it all right first time.

Yes, there are cases where people have very genuine concerns, but these are resolved by working with the council, not declaring war on it.

Despite the lurid headlines, the council has never demanded people drag their wheelie bin half-a-mile or more for collection.

It has specified points where the bins need to be left for emptying, to work out the most cost-effective collection route in a very large rural area.

Out in the country that collection point could be some distance from the owner's home, but that doesn't mean the bins have to be dragged between the two. Leave them at the collection point and drop off your litter, bit by bit, when you are passing. It's not rocket science.

For those in genuine need the council has an "assisted list" and those on it will get the help they need. But why should Joe Bloggs in a two-up two-down terrace in town pay extra tax so the council can buy extra vehicles, extra petrol and extra personnel to visit every far-flung corner of the borough? And the argument that people "in the sticks" only get bin collection for their council tax is pure tripe.

The borough council collects the tax, but keeps just 9% of it, the rest goes to the county council to pay for education, social services, the roads network ... things we all benefit from, not to mention the police and fire service.

Now let's look again at that picture. My five-year-old paints pictures like that.