City of York Council (18 019 666)

Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 16 Aug 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Ms X complained the Council’s assisted collection scheme repeatedly failed to collect her recycling bin and did not always return the bin to the right place. The Ombudsman found the Council was at fault.

The complaint

  1. Ms X complained the Council’s assisted collection scheme repeatedly failed to collect her recycling bin and that the bin was not always returned to the right place. Ms X said the missed collections were frustrating and meant she had to contact the Council multiple times to report the missed collections.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
  2. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I discussed the complaint with Ms X and made enquiries of the Council.
  2. Ms X and the Council both had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

  1. The Council collects residents recycling, general and garden waste fortnightly on alternate weeks.
  2. The Council offers an assisted waste collection service for residents who struggle to put out their recycling boxes or wheelie bins because of their age or disability. This means the bin crew will collect the waste containers from an agreed location at the property and return them afterwards.
  3. If a resident reports a missed collection, it is passed to the ‘missed collections team’ who return to empty it as soon as possible. If the Council misses a recycling collection, it will only return to collect it if the resident receives an assisted waste collection. For other residents, the Council collects on the next scheduled collection day.

What happened

  1. On 30 August 2018, Ms X contacted the Council and asked for the assisted waste collection service for her general and garden waste only. She told the Council she did not want it for her recycling. The Council incorrectly recorded her request for the assisted collection against the wrong household address.
  2. Two weeks later, Ms X contacted the Council because it had not collected her recycling bin. During this telephone call, the Council realised it had placed the assisted collection service on the wrong household address. It corrected the mistake and sent a crew to collect Ms X’s recycling bin.
  3. When the crew went to collect Ms X’s recycling bin, they did not take it because it was contaminated. Ms X telephoned the Council to complain. The Council visited Ms X and explained what could and could not be recycled. The Council then sent Ms X a letter explaining this.
  4. On 24 October 2018, Ms X made a stage two complaint after two further missed recycling collections. The Council telephoned Ms X to check it had her correct details, as a missed collection had been recorded against the wrong address. It agreed to put the assisted collection service on her recycling bin as well as her other waste. The Council sent the bin crew an instruction sheet of the change with a map of the location so there was no confusion. The Council also agreed to monitor Ms X’s recycling collections.
  5. In December 2018, Ms X reported three missed recycling collections. The Council’s records show one missed collection was because of a broken-down vehicle which meant it could not collect rubbish from all properties in the area. The Council said a replacement crew did go out to collect the waste, but that crew may not have had a list showing who received the assisted collection service.
  6. Ms X reported three missed recycling collections in January 2019.
  7. On 26 March 2019, Ms X contacted the Council and told it her recycling was still not being collected. She also said her general waste had not been collected on 20 March 2019. The Council said household waste was not collected on the 20 March because major roadworks prevented it from collecting waste in the area. Although the crew returned on 22 March 2019 to collect the bins; they had not collected Ms X’s. The Council arranged a collection for 1 April 2019, however, it recorded it against an incorrect address.
  8. On 27 March 2019, Ms X contacted the Council because her recycling bin had not been collected. The Council arranged for the missed collection crew to collect it, however, recorded it against the wrong address.
  9. In April 2019, Ms X contacted the Council twice. The first time she reported her recycling bin had not been collected; on the second occasion, she said the bin crew failed to put the bin back in the correct place.

The Council’s response to enquiries

  1. The Council accepts there were faults in how it dealt with Ms X’s missed assisted collections. It said:
    • It made errors in recording Ms X’s address which contributed to the problems she experienced.
    • When it missed collections because of breakdowns, or access issues, the crew sent to collect Ms X’s waste may not have been aware that she received assisted collections.
    • Although it recorded missed collections and requested recollection, it did not analyse any patterns in the missed collection trends.
    • Because it recorded Ms X’s address incorrectly, it did not identify her as having persistent problems.
  2. The Council said it is bringing in a new waste management computer system, which it aims to have in place by October 2019. In addition, the Head of Service is monitoring all missed assisted collections and creates a weekly report to track any trends in missed collections. This means, if residents report repeated missed collections, the Council can identify this immediately

My findings

  1. Between September 2018 and May 2019, Ms X reported thirteen missed recycling collections. Two of those were reported after Ms X has told the Council she did not want an assisted collection for her recycling waste, and one occasion was because the recycling was contaminated. On those three occasions the Council was not at fault.
  2. There were two occasions the Council failed to collect Ms X’s waste because it could not get to her property. However, the replacement crews were not aware Ms X received assisted collections so did not collect her bins.
  3. The Council’s records show of the 13 reports of missed collections Ms X made, it recorded five of those against an incorrect address. That meant the missed collection crew did not go to Ms X’s property and meant the Council did not identify the pattern in missed collections sooner.
  4. The missed collections have caused Ms X an injustice. It has caused her distress, frustration and avoidable time and trouble in bringing her complaint to the Council and the Ombudsman.
  5. The Council is in the process of making significant changes to how oversees its waste collection. The Council’s improvements should reduce the likelihood of further missed collections and help the Council respond quicker to customers in the future. However, those changes do not remedy the personal injustice caused to Ms X.

Agreed action

  1. Within one month of my draft decision, the Council has agreed to:
    • Pay Ms X £100, to remedy her avoidable time and trouble in having to repeatedly report missed bin collections to the Council.

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Final decision

  1. The Council was at fault for failing to collect Ms X’s recycling waste. The Council has agreed to my recommendations therefore I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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