Does anyone remember Mr Trefus on "A Life of Grime". Now he was a right character and the council officer would have left him alone, if he could have done.

However, when hoarders start creating problems for others then the council has to go in. When my OH lived in London he had a lovely little old lady neighbour in one of the flats BUT when in discussion with his landlady she was scathing about this lady as she hoarded newspapers and it had got to the point where the whole flat was full of paper and become a fire hazard.

So, when dwellings and gardens become full of hoarded stuff they also become homes for rats and disease and the council has no alternative to go in and clear up.

In America they don't call them hoarders - collectors is the term for it over there - but it is the same phenomenon.

Seems like a growing mental illness ... or perhaps it has always been there but only with the advent of television producers cottoning on to the "entertainment" value have people started to notice it.

Stephanie