A woman was left distraught when her beloved dog's ashes were taken for recycling after a delivery driver put them in the bin.
Grandma-of-five Irene Ferrie, 75, made the terrible choice of having her Springer Spaniel, Magners, put to sleep on January 20 after he sustained a serious leg injury.
She opted to have the 12-year-old pooch cremated so she could scatter his ashes along the path of their favourite walk near their home in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, the Daily Record reports.
After paying Cambridge Pet Cremation £110, with an extra £13.74 for postage, she expected Magners ashes back within seven to 10 days.
But by late last week, the remains hadn't turned up, so she contacted the cremation company.
They spoke to DPD, who relayed that the parcel had been left inside her blue paper recycling bin on January 25.
But tragically bin men had had emptied it five days later on January 30.
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.”
Ann Davie, Deputy Chief Executive, 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."
