Summary: Mr X complains that although he should receive assisted collections the Council has repeatedly failed to return his bins to his property after emptying them. The Council’s repeated failure to return Mr X’s bins to his property as part of the assisted collection service amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X receives assisted collections and complains, that although his neighbours’ bins are returned, his bins are not returned to the front of his property after they are emptied. Mr X says he has spoken to the collection crews and complained to the Council, but the problem is ongoing.
2. Mr X also complains that his recycling is often not collected on the scheduled day. This makes it difficult for him to remind the crews to return his bin as he does not know when the bin will be collected.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and discussed the issues with Mr X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• 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

Refuse and recycling collections

6. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in its area. The collections do not have to be weekly and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
7. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
8. The Council provides an assisted collection service for people who are unable to move their bins and boxes due to a disability or age. The Council should collect the bins from the storage point and return them to the same point.
9. 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

10. Mr X receives assisted collections. He complains that the Council has repeatedly failed to return his bins, particularly his recycling bin, to his property when they are emptied. Mr X states the crews leave the bins on the pathways causing an obstruction. Mr X is unable to retrieve the bins himself and has to rely on other people to return them for him.
11. Mr X says this has been a problem all year, but he did not complain about it during the industrial action at the start of the year. Mr X contacted the Council in early May 2019 to complain that the collection crews were regularly not returning his bins. Other residents on his street also receive assisted collections, and the crews would return his neighbours’ bins, but not his. Mr X was very frustrated by the poor service as he could not manage to bring the bins back himself. He asked the Council to investigate and rectify the situation.
12. In its response the Council apologised for the missed collections and the inconvenience caused. It stated the service had been affected by disruption which had resulted in missed collections. There were still a number of operational difficulties which it was working to resolve. The Council asked all residents to leave their bins out for collections and explained in some instances it would not be able to collect the waste until the next scheduled collection.
13. When Mr X contacted the Council again as the crews were still not returning his bins, the Council said the manager would speak to the crews and remind them of their obligations.
14. This did not resolve the problem and Mr X asked for his complaint to be reviewed. His bins had been emptied that day but not returned and were blocking the path. Mr X was unhappy this had happened again when he had been told a manager would speak to the crews. The Council confirmed the depot manager would remind crews they must collect his bins from his doorstep and return them after emptying.
15. As the problem has continued, Mr X has asked the Ombudsman to investigate his complaint. He states that has been some improvement with the household waste bin, but there are still regular problems with the recycling bin not being returned. Mr X states he has spoken to the collection crews to remind them, and there is a big sticker on his bins so the crews should know to return them.
16. In response to my enquiries the Council states it runs an assisted collection report at the start of each month with an updated list of all assisted collections. Properties are then manually added to each depot’s hard drive so they can print off and add this to crew information packs. Assisted collection properties also appear on the crew’s mobile technology. It has confirmed that Mr X has assisted collection status.
17. The Council states it set up monitoring of Mr X’s assisted collections for four weeks from the end of November 2019. This monitoring will identify any issues with Mr X’s assisted collections, which the Council will then be able to rectify. The Council states Mr X’s bin was not returned to his property in the first week of monitoring but was returned the following three weeks.

Analysis

18. It is clear from the documentation I have received that there have been repeated failings in the Council’s service which amount to fault.
19. The Council has confirmed Mr X is registered for assisted collections, and the collection crews must be aware of this as they collect Mr X’s bins from the front of his property. It is therefore unclear why they repeatedly leave his bins on the street rather than returning them to his property. This is particularly frustrating for Mr X as the crews return his neighbours’ bins while leaving his.
20. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Mr X’s complaints. The Council’s initial response does not acknowledge or address his complaint about his bins not being returned. Instead, it refers to operational difficulties leading to missed collections and asks that Mr X leave his bins out for collection. This would suggest the Council had not properly considered Mr X’s complaint. In addition, despite the Council’s assurances in subsequent correspondence that it had escalated the matter and reminded the crew members, the service has not improved. Mr X’s bins were still not routinely returned to his property after each collection.
21. I recognise the Council has now monitored Mr X’s collections. This should enable the Council to identify and rectify and issues with the collections, and lead to an improvement in the service.
22. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused Mr X a significant injustice. Mr X is unable to collect his bins and has had to rely on other people to return his bins after collection. He has experienced frustration and disappointment that despite his complaints and reporting of problems the bins are still not routinely returned. Mr X has also been put to time and trouble in pursuing this matter.

Agreed action

23. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £100 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to return his bins to his property as part of the assisted collection service has caused.
24. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

25. The Council’s repeated failure to return Mr X’s bins to his property after emptying them amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman