Summary: Mr X complains that the Council failed to collect his garden waste. The Ombudsman finds that the number of missed collections Mr X has reported is not evidence of significant administrative fault by the Council and did not cause him a significant personal injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about missed green bin collections between May and July 2019. He said his green bin had not been emptied for at least five weeks. Mr X said that there had been times when the Council had collected his neighbours green bin but not his.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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

4. I spoke to Mr X and considered the information he provided. I considered the information the Council provided about Mr X’s complaint.
5. I gave Mr X and the Council a copy of my draft decision and invited their comments. I considered all the comments I received.

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What I found

Background information

6. The Council operates a waste and recycling collection service. A green bin or caddy for garden and food waste is collected weekly, every Monday. The Council also operates an optional garden waste collection service for an annual fee of £35. If residents wish to pay for the service, the Council provides a green bin.
7. The Council ceased charging for garden waste collections in June 2019. Therefore, all properties can present garden waste to be collected free of charge.
8. The Council offers an assisted collection service for residents who through age, or physical limitations find it hard to place their bins out for collection. The collection crew collect the bins from where they are placed and return them to the same location when emptied.
9. Mr X receives the assisted collection service. At the time of the complaint, he paid the annual fee for a garden waste collection service and has a green bin.

What happened in this case

10. The road where Mr X lives has a total of eight properties of which three receive an assisted collection. On 4 March 2019, Mr X reported a missed green bin collection.
11. Mr X reported two further missed collections on 18 March 2019 and 1 April 2019. The Council closed the requests as completed 19 March 2019 and 2 April 2019. However, there is no information available to confirm it completed the job.
12. On 1 April 2019 Mr X complained to the Council about the missed collections. Mr X advised that he wanted a refund of his green bin collection. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint at stage one and stage two of the complaint process. In its final response, the Council said that it would monitor the “next few collections” and confirmed that Mr X’s green bin had been emptied on 8 April 2019. The Council said that it could not issue a refund for the missed collections.
13. Mr X reported two further missed collections on 7 May 2019 and 13 June 2019.
14. The Council has provided a copy of the monitoring sheets completed by the collection crew supervisor. The monitoring sheet included confirmation that the bin was collected, emptied and returned. It included photographs of Mr X’s bin to show the collection had been made. The Council provided monitoring sheets for 8 April 2019; 15 April 2019; 24 June 2019; 1 July 2019; 8 July 2019; 15 July 2019; 22 July 2019 and 12 August 2019.
15. Between January 2019 and July 2019, the Council received three reports of missed assisted collections, from other properties on the same road as Mr X’s property.
16. In response to my draft decision Mr X said that the Council had failed to collect his green bin for three weeks and his black bin had not been collected for over a month. He said that he experienced similar problems 12 months ago.
17. The Council checked its records and said that Mr X last reported a missed green bin collection on 13 June 2019. The Council explained that in September 2019 a new bin collection calendar was issued to all residents in Trafford advising of a potential change in collection day. Mr X’s collection day was changed from Monday to Tuesday with effect from 14 October 2019. Mr X’s last black bin collection was 16 September 2019 and the Council made an interim black bin collection on 5 October 2019. The Council said it did not receive any reports of a missed black bin collection from Mr X until 25 October 2019. The Council collected Mr X’s black bin and other bins on 29 October 2019.
18. The Council explained that it will continue to monitor Mr X’s bin collections for a further four weeks to ensure continuity in service.

Analysis

19. The Council has acknowledged that there were issues with collecting Mr X’s green bin. It said that the collection crew responsible for emptying garden and food waste bins had missed collections from two properties. On 4 March 2019 and 11 March 2019, the collection crew reported that the bins were not presented for collection which implied that they were unaware that collections should be assisted. The Council confirmed that its electronic system showed that Mr X had an assisted collection and therefore identified this as a training issue with the collection crew.
20. Mr X has reported five missed collections since January 2019. Following Mr X’s complaint, the Council monitored his collections and provided evidence that his green bin had been collected, emptied and returned. The Council confirmed that no further missed collections have been reported by Mr X since the end of June 2019. Furthermore, the Council confirmed that from 3 June 2019 it ceased charging for garden waste collection. Mr X says his black bin had not been collected for over a month, however the Council’s records show only one report of a missed collection. Mr X reported a missed black bin collection on 25 October 2019 and the Council collected this on 29 October 2019. I do not consider this is evidence of significant administrative fault by the Council nor did it cause Mr X a significant personal injustice.
21. In response to the change in collection date, the Council will continue to monitor Mr X’s bin collections for a further four weeks to ensure continuity in service. I am satisfied with this.
22. Mr X said that there had been times when the Council had collected his neighbours green bin, but not his. The Council said that it had received missed collection reports from other properties, “clearly demonstrating that this [was] not a circumstance unique to [Mr X]”. The Council is not at fault.

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Final decision

23. I have completed my investigation on this basis, finding no fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman