Jack Hebblethwaite, 70, thought he'd just pop the branch he'd dug up into his general waste bin but eagle-eyed collectors informed him it could not be disposed of in this manner and refused to empty it.

To add insult to injury the pensioner, from Whinmoor, Leeds, was amazed to hear a special collection truck which usually deal with wardrobes and fridges, would have to be called to take away the branch – which is only 35mm (one and four-tenths of an inch) in diameter.

Mr Hebblethwaite said: "I was flabbergasted that such an innocuous item like this would even be regarded. I am a placid person normally, but this really made my blood pressure rise. This is when people of my age start to despair. Can you imagine that a giant truck turns up at my house and I hand them this branch?

In frustration Mr Hebblethwaite called the council for advice on disposing of the offending object, only to hear it was 5mm too thick to be allowed in the brown garden waste bin.

He said: "The sad thing is that there is no flexibility, no common sense and it brings the whole matter into disrepute."

Environment Minister Phil Woolas recently amended Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 so that a local authority 'is not obliged to collect household waste that is in contravention' of its rules

A spokesman for Leeds City Council said: "There are rules in place covering the size of garden waste material that can be placed in our brown bins.

"In the case of things like small branches and twigs, they must not be thicker than 3cm (just under one and two-tenths of an inch).

"So the advice given to Mr Hebblethwaite by our staff was correct.

"However, we also take a commonsense approach to these matters and use the rules flexibly."