Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about missed bin collections because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. In addition, there is insufficient evidence of injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, says there have been repeated missed bin collections over the last year. He was forced to take his waste to the tip. Mr X wants compensation of £400.

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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, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(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 responses. I checked with the Council how many missed collections Mr X has reported in the last year. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

4. Mr X reported a missed collection on 23 November 2018. The Council emptied the bin on 26 November.
5. Mr X reported a missed collection on 3 May which the Council collected on 4 May. He reported another miss on 4 June which the Council collected on 5 June.
6. Mr X reported a miss on 17 June. However, he had presented the wrong bin so it was not a missed collection.
7. On 15 July Mr X reported a missed garden waste collection. The crew returned on 16 July and found the bin was empty. Mr X later told the Council he had reported the wrong bin.
8. In July the Council asked Mr X to present the bins in a certain way. This was to allow the crew to access the bin handles and pull the bin up a step.
9. Mr X reported a missed collection on 12 August. The Council explained the crew could not do the collection as the bin handles were in the wrong position and the crew could not move the bin. The Council collected the waste on 13 August.
10. Mr X has not reported any more missed collections.
11. The Council declined to pay compensation to Mr X.
12. Mr X says there have been repeated missed collections over the last year. He says the waste has attracted vermin and complaints from his neighbours. He has had to make a 40 minute trip to the tip. He wants £400 compensation.

Assessment

13. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. There are three records of missed collections which the Council quickly rectified (collected). Three missed collections do not represent fault that requires an investigation. There was a miss that the Council could not correct because Mr X reported the wrong bin. But, again, the crew retuned the next day. There was a final missed collection but this was caused by Mr X’s presentation of the bin and, again, the rubbish was collected the next day. There might have been other missed collections which Mr X did not report. However, I can only consider how the Council responded to issues it was aware of.
14. I also will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of injustice. This is because the Council collected all the missed collections that Mr X reported promptly. And, four missed collections do not represent a level of injustice that requires compensation or an investigation.

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Final decision

15. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman