An elderly couple who tried to do a good turn by rescuing a dumped supermarket trolley ended up with it in their front garden for seven weeks.

Pat and Betty Burke, who are in their 80s, found it abandoned near their home in Deal – but their efforts to return it to Aldi, where it belonged, proved frustrating.

Pat Burke expresses his confusion over why the trolley was not collected for weeks on end

Betty, of Southwall Road, said: "It's all been nonsense. It's not damaged so they could have come over and wheeled it back straight away. I even cleaned it for them.

"It would take one of their staff 15 to 20 minutes to walk over and pick it up."

Betty, 81, found the trolley in an alley around the corner from where she and husband, Pat, 82, live seven weeks ago.

She said: "It seemed wicked to just leave it there. It could have got vandalised. I'm told these trolleys cost about £100 each."

Betty said it was impossible for her to walk it back, as she has to stay with her disabled husband at all times due to various health problems, including him being partially-sighted.

It was also too big to fit into their car, she added, so they could not deliver it that way.

Instead, she rang the supermarket's customer services department at its head office and was told the trolley, which they had to keep in their front garden as they had no room anywhere else, would be picked up.

When no one came to collect it, they made two more phone calls but still had no joy.

Betty and Pat, an ex-mayor of Canterbury, also visited the Aldi branch in Park Street, Deal, three times in an attempt to get it returned.

Betty said: "They told us they were sorry it hadn't been collected but in the end we were told this had to be dealt with by head office."

Pat, 82, was Sheriff of Canterbury in 1990-1, the city's deputy mayor in 1991-2 and its mayor in 1992-3. He is also an ex-chairman of the city council's environment health committee.

He said: "I don't like to see things thrown away and wasted. Because I'm disabled I couldn't take it back down there. I'd love to be able to."

KentOnline contacted Aldi about the trolley on Sunday and followed up with a phone call on Monday when our reporter visited the couple.

The trolley was taken back on Tuesday afternoon.

Mrs Burke said: "I am sure KentOnline had a lot to do with that happening and we would both like to thank them for helping."

A spokesman for Aldi told KentOnline: “We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused Mr and Mrs Burke. We’re pleased this has now been resolved by the team at their local store.”

The company says that a delay in response from the trolley retrieval firm to Aldi’s customer services team prevented it from being collected sooner.