Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a bulky waste collection. That is because there is not enough evidence the Council is at fault and the injustice is not significant enough to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council did not collect all the bulky waste items he left out for collection. He says the Council mishandled his complaint about the matter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X complains the Council did not take all the items he left out for a bulky waste collection. He says the officers who came to collect the bulky waste were rude to his father and refused to collect all five items. Mr X says he had to remove the items himself at further expense.
6. Mr X booked and paid for a bulky waste collection for the Council to collect three items. During the phone call, the Council told Mr X he could have up to five items collected for the same cost and advised him if he wished to add items, he would need to notify the Council on the day prior to the collection. Mr X says he later called to add a further two items for collection. When the crew came to collect the items, officers took three of the five items and said they had no record of the further two items.
7. The Council says it cannot find evidence of Mr X calling to add the extra items and the Officers collecting the items are only authorised to collect what is on the list. Mr X received the service he paid for as the cost of collection for three items is the same as it is for five items.
8. We will not investigate this matter. There is not enough evidence of fault here nor is the injustice significant enough to justify the Ombudsman’s involvement.
9. Mr X complains about how his complaint was handled. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. That is the case here.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault and the injustice is not significant enough to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman