East Suffolk Council (19 007 668)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Refuse and recycling 10-Oct-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to give the complainant, a second home owner, an additional rubbish bin. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (18 015 046)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 09-Oct-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman upholds Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s contractor failing to return her bin to the correct location. The Council has not done enough to monitor the contractor’s service delivery so the problem has persisted for longer than it should. The Council agreed to apologise to Ms X and make a payment to recognise the inconvenience and frustration caused. It will also carry out further monitoring of the contractor and report its findings to Ms X and the Ombudsman.

Canterbury City Council (19 003 160)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 09-Oct-2019

Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his complaints about its refuse collectors, putting him to time and trouble. The Ombudsman finds the Council at fault in how it dealt with Mr X’s complaint. The Ombudsman recommends the Council makes a payment to Mr X for his time and trouble and takes action to prevent recurrence.

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (19 007 563)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Refuse and recycling 08-Oct-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to give the complainant a council tax refund after he had some missed bin collections. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice.

Plymouth City Council (19 006 428)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Refuse and recycling 08-Oct-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms B’s complaint the Council removed her four green garden waste bags. Further consideration of the complaint would not achieve any more for Ms B.

Birmingham City Council (19 007 793)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Refuse and recycling 07-Oct-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council handled the complainant’s bulky waste collection request and her subsequent complaint. This because the error in the refuse collection did not cause the complainant a significant injustice, and we would not normally investigate the Council's associated complaints process in isolation.

London Borough of Merton (19 003 274)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 07-Oct-2019

Summary: Mr X complained about ongoing missed waste collections at his property. There was fault causing injustice when waste collections were missed and when issues were not fed back properly. The Council has agreed an appropriate remedy which addresses Mr X injustice.

London Borough of Barnet (18 018 519)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 07-Oct-2019

Summary: Mr B says the Council failed to take effective action to ensure bin crews return his bins to his property and failed to follow its complaints procedure. The Council has not kept any evidence of its monitoring to show whether there is a continuing problem and has raised Mr B’s expectations about what it considers acceptable. The Council delayed responding to complaints. Those faults raised Mr B’s expectations and led to him having to go to time and trouble to pursue his complaint. An apology, small payment to Mr B, a meeting with Mr B and further monitoring is satisfactory remedy for the injustice caused.

Birmingham City Council (18 019 131)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 07-Oct-2019

Summary: Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his household waste. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s household waste on the scheduled days, or in a timely manner when collections were missed amounts to fault causing an injustice.

Birmingham City Council (19 002 103)

Statement Not upheld Refuse and recycling 30-Sep-2019

Summary: Mrs X complains that although she receives assisted collections, the Council repeatedly fails to return her bins to her driveway when they have been emptied. There is no evidence of fault in the assisted collection service the Council has provided to Mrs X.