Pensioners have won a wheelie bin battle with Birmingham City Council after taking their complaint to an official watchdog.
The two householders from Perry Barr complained they could not drag their wheelie bins up steep steps and should be allowed to throw out their rubbish in black bags instead.
Now, the Local Government Ombudsman has found in their favour and ordered their black bag service to be restored.
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One of them, Dorothy Bradbury of Mildenhall Road, has a front door four feet above the pavement.
Because she could not move the bin, she put bottles and cans in bags inside it.
Then dustmen had to lift them out again because they were also unable to take the bin down the steps.
Despite numerous complaints and appeals, the council refused to restore the bag collection.
In a second case, involving an unnamed resident, the Ombudsman concluded there was "fault leading to injustice" and the resident had been caused "distress and upset" by being led to believe she would have to cope with wheelie bins.
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The Ombudsman has also told the council its waste collection staff must reassess similar homes with steep steps.
The two householders were supported by Perry Barr councillor Jon Hunt who sent the Ombudsman a film of himself struggling to take the bins up the steps.
He said: "I have been incensed by the way my constituents have been treated and by the way the council ignored warnings of the difficulties the wheelie bin programme would pose in hilly Great Barr and Perry Barr.
"In one road, every property was assessed as suitable for bins and then 60 assessments were changed.
"In spite of this, my repeated warnings about the problems, made in the council chamber, have been ignored."
He said the two complainants were "bullied" by officials into taking wheelie bins.
"Dorothy Bradbury was one of the first residents to complain about the faulty assessments in Perry Barr ward and seemed to be victimised" he added.
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"It took the Ombudsman's intervention - and an injury as Dorothy tried to manipulate a bin - to get the bins removed from her property."
Waste collection chief Coun Lisa Trickett (Lab Moseley and Kings Heath) said the council had accepted the Ombudsman's findings and apologised to the residents.
"We have reinstated bag and box collections for the constituents concerned - we also need to reassess similar properties," she added.