Summary: The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint about missed bin collections. This is because the complainant has not been caused any significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, has complained that the Council repeatedly failed to collect her household waste.

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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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered the complaint and the Council’s responses. I invited Mrs X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

4. Councils have a legal duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling free of charge. In this case the Council collects household waste every two weeks.

What happened

5. In February 2019, the Council made changes to its waste collection routes. After the changes, the Council failed to collect Mrs X’s household waste on several occasions. Mrs X reported the issues and the Council looked into her concerns. The Council apologised for the missed collections and said the crews were unfamiliar with the new routes and the location of Mrs X’s home. The Council’s waste supervisor spoke to the crews and added an alert to the collection vehicles so crew would be reminded to empty Mrs X’s bins when they were near her property.
6. Mrs X contacted the Council again in June and August 2019 to report missed collections. The Council says that a collection was missed in June as a temporary crew was being used that day. In August, the Council had many issues with waste collections as several of its vehicles broke down. The Council says the matter has now been resolved and Mrs X has not reported any further problems.

Assessment

7. I will not start an investigation into Mrs X’s complaint as the injustice is not significant enough to justify the Ombudsman’s involvement.
8. The Council failed to collect Mrs X’s household waste on several occasions after changes were made to the collection route. On most of these occasions it returned to empty the bins after Mrs X reported the missed collections. It has also apologised and taken steps to ensure that further collections are not missed. This has resolved the problem and Mrs X’s household waste has been regularly collected since September 2019.
9. I understand there were a few occasions when the Council did not return within a few days to empty the bins after missing the collection. While I appreciate the frustration this may have caused Mrs X, I cannot say the injustice this caused her is significant enough to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the injustice is not enough to justify the Ombudsman’s involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman