Summary: Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his garden waste. This is the third consecutive year Mr X has experienced problems with the green waste collection service. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s garden waste amounts to fault. As does the Council’s failure to adequately respond to or address Mr X’s complaints. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his garden waste. This is the third year Mr X has experienced problems with the green waste collection service. He states that despite assurances from the Council, there has been no improvement in the service.

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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. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mr X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the complaint with Mr X;
• sent a statement setting out my draft decision to Mr X and the Council and invited their comments.

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What I found

Garden waste collections

5. The Council runs a fortnightly garden waste collection service for 40 weeks between March and December. The Council charges a fee for this service and it is only available to customers who have subscribed for the service in advance. The terms and conditions for this service state the Council will consider a refund where it has failed to rectify a reported missed collection of garden waste on three consecutive cycles.
6. When a missed collection is reported to the Council, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the collection is complete, the Council closes the report.

What happened here

7. Mr X subscribes for the garden waste service each year but states the service has been terrible for the last three years. Mr X has previously complained to the Ombudsman about the service in 2018. The Council did not charge Mr X for the garden waste service in 2018 as the service was so poor in 2017.
8. Mr X complains the Council did not make any garden waste collections from March 2019 when the service began until mid-September 2019. He states the Council routinely collects garden waste from his neighbours in adjoining streets, but repeatedly misses his collection.
9. The Council’s records show Mr X has reported nine missed collections between April and September 2019. During this period there should have been 14 scheduled collections. The reports are all closed which suggests the collections have been made. However, the dates these reports were closed do not suggest collections were all made in a timely manner or on the next scheduled collection day. There are also inconsistencies in the dates these reports were closed.
10. As an example, Mr X reported missed collections on 27 May, 10 June and 24 June 2019. The Council closed these reports on 24 June, 27 June and 9 July 2019 respectively. This is curious as if the Council had collected Mr X’s garden waste on 24 June 2019, he would not have needed to report a further missed collection, and the Council could have closed all the reports that day.
11. The Council states there may be a delay between the missed collections being made and the report being closed, so it is not necessarily the case that the intervening collections were also missed. However, the Council has not provided evidence of the dates the missed collections were made where they are different to the date the report was closed.
12. In addition to reporting missed collections, Mr X also complained to the Council. In May 2019 Mr X complained the Council had not collected his green waste all year, and that he had reported missed collections six times. Mr X asked the Council to collect his garden waste and to explain why he was not receiving the service he had paid for.
13. The Council’s response apologised for the missed collections on 29 April and 13 May 2019 and confirmed the service manager was aware. Mr X was not satisfied by this response and asked for his complaint to be reviewed. His collections were still being missed and Mr X felt like the Council was passing the buck without explaining why collections were being missed.
14. The Council apologised for the poor service and confirmed it would refund his payment in line with the terms and conditions for the service. The Council also confirmed it had alerted the service manager so that they could put their best efforts into ensuring the remaining collections were carried out as scheduled.
15. Mr X was again unhappy that the Council had not provided an explanation for the missed collections. He told the Council it had again missed his green waste collection that day and asserted that he was being treated unfairly. The Council told Mr X the depot had been experiencing some operational difficulties which it was working hard to rectify. It aimed to have the garden waste service back on track as soon as possible and apologised for the shortcomings in service.
16. In September 2019 Mr X made a further complaint. He stated that nothing had changed since he received the refund and that he had not had a garden waste collection all year. In response the Council advised it had escalated the matter to the service manager and apologised for the reduced level of service.
17. Mr X has asked the Ombudsman to investigate his complaint. He states the Council collected the accumulated garden waste in mid- September 2019, after his second complaint. Prior to that he had had to store and then take the waste to the tip. Mr X states that during the autumn he does not have as much garden waste and has not needed to put his bin out for collection in recent weeks. Mr X completed the work in his garden and put his bin out for the final collection at the end of November 2019.
18. In response to my enquiries the Council states the round which includes Mr X’s property is quite large. During the period from April to July larger quantities of garden waste were presented across the round which made it more difficult for the crew to complete garden waste collections on the scheduled day.
19. The Council has considered the matter and concluded it needed additional staff rather than to change the size of the round. It has added an extra garden waste crew member in an attempt to improve the situation. The Council states it has completed the last three scheduled garden waste collections. It will also monitor the remaining scheduled collections until the service ends for the year.
20. Mr X states the Council failed to collect his garden waste on final scheduled collection of the year.

Analysis

21. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has again missed a significant proportion of the scheduled garden waste collections from Mr X’s property. Given the anomalies in the Council’s records I consider it likely that more than the nine collections it has identified were missed. I note Mr X states the Council did not collect his garden waste until mid-September 2019, that is the 15th scheduled collection of the year.
22. This failure to collect Mr X’s garden waste and continuation of the poor service Mr X received last year amounts to fault. It is particularly disappointing that the Council attributes the missed collections to the size of the round. The Council offered the same explanation in response to our enquiries on Mr X’s complaint last year. The Council was aware of the difficulty crews had in completing the round and advised that as part of its review it would amend this round to make it more manageable. It is unclear how the Council changed the round, but in any event the problems with the crew being unable to complete the collections on the scheduled days has continued. The failure to resolve the issue and provide an improved service for the 2019 season is unsatisfactory.
23. I recognise the Council has now added an additional member to the crew and that it reports the service appears has improved. It is therefore disappointing that the Council failed to collect Mr X’s garden waste on the last scheduled collection of the year. I would expect the Council to make this missed collection as soon as possible. I would also expect the Council’s efforts to improve the service to be reflected in next year’s service.
24. However, I consider the Council should have taken action to address this problem much sooner. The failure to proactively address and resolve this known issue amounts to fault.
25. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has responded to Mr X’s complaints. Despite assurances that collections would be made, and the service would improve, Mr X’s garden waste was not collected until September 2019. The Council did not address Mr X’s concerns, or offer an explanation for the missed collections, nor did it explain the action it would take to resolve the problem.
26. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused Mr X an injustice. As the Council accepted Mr X’s subscription and fee for the garden waste service, he had a legitimate expectation that his garden waste would be collected 20 times in 2019. Instead, Mr X has had to store his garden waste or take it to the tip throughout the Spring and Summer of 2019, when he had most use for the service. Mr X has experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the further year of missed collections, and the Council’s ongoing failure to resolve the problem. He has also been put to further unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

Agreed action

27. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £200 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular garden waste collections has caused.
28. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

29. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s garden waste amounts to fault. As does the Council’s failure to adequately respond to or address Mr X’s complaints. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman