Molly Barlow was left seething after West Oxfordshire District Council workers took a chair which her late father loved to use, and dumped it along with unwanted furniture.

Molly Barlow

Mrs Barlow's father, Francis, lived with her at her home in Brize Norton Road, Carterton. He died at the start of the month, aged 97.

Mrs Barlow, 57, said: "After his funeral I sorted out some of the furniture from his room and rang the district council to ask them to take four items away."

Workmen arrived at the house at about 7am, on December 17.

Mrs Barlow said: "I spoke to them out of a window and said there were just two items by the garage as someone had taken the other two.

"Then they started to move an old leather chair and another item from the porch in front of the house.

"I clearly told them they weren't to take those and closed the window, but when I went out later in the day I found they had been taken.

"They weren't valuable, but my father used to love to sit in the old leather chair on the porch in the summer and watch the world go by. It had sentimental value."

She claimed she called the council several times during the day, but did not get a call back until late afternoon, when she was told there was nothing they could do and the chair had probably been crushed. The council's cabinet member for the environment, George Kellow, said: "This was a most unfortunate incident, arising from a misunderstanding of Mrs Barlow's amended instructions.

"Every effort was made to recover the article.

"We would recommend that all items requested for collection by this service are clearly labelled or put together to one side."