Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the time the Council collects the rubbish from the complainant’s road. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains about early morning noise from the weekly refuse collection. She wants the Council to rearrange the round so the collection happens later in the day.

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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 an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s response. I considered comments Mrs X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

4. Mrs X complains that the weekly refuse collection starts at 6.30am and is noisy. She says she has had to live with the noise for 33 years. The van uses a reversing bleeper and the staff chat and make noise. The number of parked cars mean it can take some time for the collection to be completed. Mrs X gets woken up and she wants the Council to change the collection to later in the day. She says the collections have recently moved to a 7am start time. She thinks the Council has done this to pacify her. She says that, over the years, the collections have sometimes moved to a later start time but always revert back to an early start. Mrs X says it is time for another road, and its residents, to have the early start.
5. In response to the complaint the Council explained that the contract states the collections can start at 6.30am. It explained that her road is the first on the round. It said it cannot change the round because it is planned in terms of efficiency and safety.
6. In response to my enquires the Council said it has recently moved to winter rounds which is why the collections are starting later. The Council says this is part of a planned seasonal change and not in response to the complaint.

Assessment

7. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. Collections can start from 6.30am and people who live on the roads at the start of the round will inevitably experience more early morning noise than people who live in roads which are placed later in the rounds. The rounds are designed for safety and efficiency and cannot be changed to suit the wishes of individual residents. The collections are currently starting slightly later but that is a planned seasonal change.
8. There is noise during the collection but this is a natural consequence of the collection and is an annoyance experienced by most people who live in a street with an early collection.
9. Mrs X says the early collections, for 33 years, represent a service failure. However, a service failure is when a council repeatedly fails to provide a service (collect the rubbish). It does not apply when a council is providing a service but not in the way someone would like.
10. The Ombudsman does not act as an appeal body and cannot tell councils how to organise the refuse collections rounds. This is a decision for the Council to make. It would be for the Council to decide whether it can, or should, agree to Mrs X’s suggestion that other roads should move to the start of the round.

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Final decision

11. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman