COUNCIL chiefs who had threatened to take a blind woman to court over a disputed unpaid £100 bill for cleaning her flat have backed down.

The decision came after Mrs Catherine Carpenter vowed not to pay the cash and to take legal action against the local authority over the "worry and stress" she's suffered.

Mrs Carpenter was hit with the bill weeks after transferring from her council flat in Hawk Close, Bury, to a bigger local authority home in the town's Woodley Street.

Council bosses said they were forced to dispose of an assortment of refuse and a chest of drawers left behind at Mrs Carpenter's previous flat.

They demanded £100 towards the cost of the cleaning and threatened to take her to court unless she paid up. Mrs Carpenter (51), whose marriage broke down last year, said: "I lived at Hawk Close for eight years and during that time I kept the flat in a lovely condition. I made several improvements to the flat, including rewiring, and spent about £4,000 of my own money on these."

She added: "When I moved out, I left two convector heaters behind. I totally deny my flat was dirty. It was a palace and it was the nicest in the block."

For more than 30 years, Mrs Carpenter, who gets about with the aid of a guide dog, has performed as a vocalist around the cabaret and club circuit under the stage name Katie Lee Carpenter.

She says several bags left behind were to have been taken by a charity shop, but they never turned up to collect them.

"And as for the chest of drawers, that's a mystery. They didn't belong to me," she said. "They think that because you're blind you must be dirty."

However, Bury Council has now scrapped the cash demand.

A spokeseman said: "Mrs Carpenter should not have been charged as our investigations have shown arrangements were made to have the rubbish removed.

"But under normal circumstances, we would have charged. We have cancelled the charge and apologised to Mrs Carpenter for any stress that has been caused."