Fife Council is holding an amnesty for zimmer frames and walking sticks hoarded by people who do not need them.

The local authority is offering to collect thousands of mobility aids from people who should have handed them back.

It believes tens of thousands of pounds are being lost each year because an estimated 160,000 sticks and frames are lying unused at homes across the district.

Owners are being encouraged to take them to a local recycling centre to see if they can be used again.

When this is not possible, council workers will pick the items up.

A pilot scheme in Glenrothes last year resulted in 6000 different pieces of mobility equipment being returned.

Councillor Andrew Rodger, chairman of the health and social care partnership in Fife, said: "Equipment such as bath lifts, height adjustable seating, zimmer frames, shower chairs and kitchen trolleys can make a real difference to people's lives.

"Each year we deliver over 78,000 pieces of equipment to people's homes but over the years there has been a build-up of equipment that has never been returned.

"We want to encourage as many people as possible to take items that are no longer needed to their nearest recycling centre."

The disability aids range in cost from £10 and several thousand pounds.

Charity Age says a shortage of disability aids is keeping thousands of elderly and disabled people from being discharged from hospital.

It has calculated more than 41,000 hospital bed days a year are lost because beds are blocked by patients well enough to go home but for whom there is not enough home care or mobility equipment in place.

The organisation said that more elderly people wanted to live independently and there was increasing pressure to provide mobility aids.

A spokesman said: "We are simply wasting precious NHS resources at a time when hospital services are already under great strain."

To make an appointment for collection, call 01592 583252 or email Fces.orders@fife.gov.uk.