A granny has been left heartbroken after a delivery driver put her dead dog's ashes in the recycling bin just before it was emptied.
Irene Ferrie was in tears when she discovered her much loved pet's remains had been recycled before she had the chance to fish them out of the bucket.
The distressing incident unfolded when 12-year-old springer spaniel Magners was put to sleep on January 20 after suffering a serious leg injury, the Daily Record reports.
The pensioner had hoped to sprinkle his ashes on their favourite walk near her East Dumbartonshire home.
Cambridge Pet Cremation was paid £110 plus an additional £13.74 for postage and told Irene to expect Magners' to be delivered to her Milton of Campsie home within seven to 10 days.
When the gran-of-five hadn't heard anything by late last week, she contacted the cremation company who in turn spoke to delivery firm DPD.
After initially getting the runaround, Irene, 75, discovered the parcel had been left inside her blue paper recycling bin on January 25 before it was emptied five days later.
She's been left unable to sleep and is furious at the lack of communication from DPD - especially as her designated safe space was listed on the delivery instructions.
A tearful Irene told the Daily Record: "It's terrible, an absolute disgrace and completely shocking. I never got a single email or notification from DPD - not a thing.
"Magner had a really sore paw and the vet advised us that the kindest thing was to have him put down on Thursday, January 20.
"I wanted to get him cremated so I could scatter his ashes on his favourite walk near the house. He was a Springer Spaniel and he absolutely loved running through the fields.
"I was given the number for Cambridge Pet Cremation in Livingston and filled out the form.
"It said on the bottom of the form that the ashes would be returned by a courier service and would require a signature upon delivery.
"They said it could take between a week and 10 days. So I kept waiting to get an email or something to say he was on his way back home.
"But when it got to over the ten day mark after the weekend, I decided to give the cremation place a call to see what was happening.
"The girl from there called DPD to ask what was happening and she was told that it had been left with a neighbour.
"So I went up to see them and they didn't have anything. She even checked her own bins but I knew they had been lifted on Sunday.
"I've got DPD on an app on my phone and normally you get a wee notification telling you when your parcel is coming and who the driver was. But I didn't get any.
"When I opened it to double check, there was a picture of the parcel in the blue bin. So he's away to be recycled.
"I'm so frustrated and angry. I couldn't sleep thinking about this because he's been put in the rubbish like a piece of trash."
She added: "My nominated place was the greenhouse. Why did they put it in the bin?
"There was no communication to tell me that he was getting delivered. And I certainly didn't sign for it. It's just shocking, so it is."
A spokesperson for Cambridge Pet Cremation said: "CPC are devastated to learn that the ashes of Ms Ferrie's beloved spaniel Magners, have been misplaced by our courier company.
"We acted immediately upon discovering this information yesterday and requested a full investigation, which we are awaiting information from.
"We of course immediately refunded Ms Ferrie the full cost paid, and while this is the least we can do, this in no way makes up for this fundamental mistake.
"CPC would like to offer their sincerest apologies to Ms Ferrie at this terribly sad time."
A DPD spokesperson said: "We would like to apologise unreservedly for this error and extend our sympathy to Irene regarding her dog. We are investigating what has gone wrong as a matter of urgency.
"We know that three notifications were sent during the delivery phase, including the picture of the final delivery, but we should never be leaving parcels in bins.
"We are very sorry indeed that this parcel was not delivered correctly and will be reaching out to Irene to apologise in person."
Ann Davie, Depute Chief Executive of East Dumbartonshire Council, said, "We were sorry to hear of this very sad incident and our thoughts are with Ms Ferrie.
"All of our recycling material goes to a third party contractor to deal with so unfortunately we are not in a position to search for the missing parcel.
"We have provided Ms Ferrie with the contact information for the contractor in the hope that they can help reunite her with Magner's ashes."
