Central Bedfordshire Council (23 017 283)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 11 Mar 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about waste collections. This is because any injustice to the complainant is not significant enough to justify our involvement and it is unlikely an investigation would add to the one carried out by the Council.
The complaint
- Mr X complains that refuse collectors are not returning his bins to the correct location and that electrical waste items are not being disposed of correctly.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained that on several occasions his bins had not been returned to the correct location and that he saw a refuse worker dispose of an electrical waste item with the general waste. The Council said it would carry out a period of monitoring on the route in question and any issues found would assist in training the crew.
- I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because I do not consider that the issues raised by Mr X have caused him an injustice significant enough to justify our involvement. Furthermore, the Council has agreed to monitor the situation and therefore we could not add to its investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the issues raised have not caused him a significant injustice and we can’t add to the investigation carried out by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman