Summary: The Ombudsman found fault on Mr Q’s complaint about the Council failing to provide new bins promptly following his order. It took 6 months to deliver them. There was also fault on his complaint of it failing to empty his bins for a year from November 2018. While the evidence did not support his claim in full, it did show it missed collections and failed to update its systems to recognise his address. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mr Q complains the Council failed to:
1. Promptly provide him with new bins when he ordered them in May 2018; and
2. Collect and empty any of his waste, recycling, and food bins since their delivery to his home in November.
2. As a result, he had to place waste in his neighbours’ bins which strained his relationship with them and caused him some stress, frustration, and inconvenience.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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)
4. 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)

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Household waste and recycling collections

5. 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.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered all the information Mr Q sent, as well as the Council’s response to my enquiries, a copy of which I sent him. I sent a copy of my draft decision to Mr Q and the Council. I considered their responses.

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What I found

7. Mr Q lives in one of 2 properties within the same house. In May 2018, he ordered 3 bins from the Council. These were for general waste, recycling, and food. The Council told him it would deliver them within 6 weeks. He chased the Council in July and again towards the end of August. He was told they had not been ordered. He chased the Council again in September and in October. He eventually received the bins in November. Before their delivery, he relied on the goodwill of his neighbours allowing him to put his waste, recycling, and food in to their bins.
8. Mr Q complains his problems continued as the bins were not emptied when he put them out kerbside for collection. When he asked the waste crew about it, they said it was because his property was not on their list. Mr Q wondered why, when someone had ordered bins for the first time, his address and details were not added automatically to this list.
9. Mr Q says he contacted the Council in November about missed collections and was told his property did not have a ‘code’. An officer he spoke to said it would be resolved within 2 weeks but, by the end of January 2019, his bins were still not being emptied. I have not seen evidence of this contact.
10. In April, Mr Q formally complained to the Council about the continuing failure to empty his bins. The Council apologised and said an error meant there was no service listed for his address. It would correct the error and make changes within 24 hours. The error also meant he could not log missed collections on its website. The Council said it would arrange to collect all outstanding waste as a matter of urgency.
11. In October, Mr Q complained to the Ombudsman as the Council still failed to empty his bins but, we referred it back to the Council as he had yet to complete all 3 stages of its complaints procedure. The Council contacted the contractor asking why there was a ‘consistent problem with this property.’ It also wanted confirmation the property was on its list of addresses to collect from. The contractor replied the following week confirming while it was not on its system, it had now been updated. The contractor would also speak to the crew.
12. In November, he again contacted the Council about its failure to empty his bins. He spoke to the contractor’s crew who confirmed his address was not on their system. The Council replied saying it asked the contractor to add his address to its system. Later that month, Mr Q again contacted the Council after it failed to carry out a missed collection he booked. The Council contacted the contractor again and its own department dealing with street cleaning. They were asked to explain why his address was repeatedly missed. Hearing nothing, the officer chased them all for an urgent response.
13. The Council finally emptied the bins at the end of November but, Mr Q contacted it again as he received no response to his complaint.

Analysis

New bins

14. In response to my enquiries, the Council confirmed it took about 6 months from May 2018 to November to deliver the new bins he ordered. This was because his address was not on its computer system.
15. I found fault on this complaint and in reaching this conclusion, took the following in to account:
1. The Council was aware his address was not on its system in May 2018 when he ordered the bins. Its records for this month state Mr Q’s address, which is to the rear of the property for the delivery, was not shown on its computer system. It failed to act to add his address to the system. This is fault;
2. In August, the record again noted his address was not on its system and re-ordered his bins;
3. In October, the records again noted his address was not on the system;
4. Despite taking the order and not delivering them, the Council had no procedures in place to: check the progress of the order; identify their non-delivery; act to ensure any problem with non-delivery was overcome; provide updates to Mr Q about the progress, or lack of progress, with his order; ensure the order was not delayed; and
5. It was after Mr Q’s fourth contact with the Council chasing his order that it managed to process it and deliver the bins.
16. The fault caused Mr Q avoidable injustice. This is because he was without bins for 6 months, during which time this caused him difficulties with his waste and recycling. In addition, it caused his stress, frustration, and inconvenience.

Collection and emptying

17. I found fault on this complaint and in reaching this conclusion, took the following in to account:
1. Although the Council said Mr Q only logged 1 missed collection in November 2019, this is incorrect. The records show he complained about missed collections in April when the Council responded saying it would correct the error it found. The error was it had no service listed for his property;
2. The Council’s response also told him the error meant he could not log any missed collections through its website. This was because the system did not list any service against his address;
3. There is no evidence the Council acted to ensure it listed his property for collections following this contact. The error remained uncorrected. This is fault;
4. While Mr Q later said the Council continued to fail to empty his bins from April, there is no evidence of this. I found no emails or contact records showing Mr Q, who was aware he could not log missed collections through its website, complaining or making reports until the end of October;
5. Mr Q complained to the Council in October about missed collections. The Council told him it had sent his complaint to the relevant service for it to investigate and respond; and
6. In November, Mr Q again contacted the Council after the waste crew failed to empty his bins. Ten days after the Council told him it was contacting the contractor, Mr Q chased for an update. The officer replied saying the contractor would update its records, but this clearly had not happened. The officer chased the contractor again about it.
18. I am satisfied there were repeated failures to update the system with Mr Q’s address. These failures caused him avoidable injustice as he did not receive the service he was entitled to, had to make repeated reports to the Council about it, and was put to some time, trouble, frustration, and inconvenience pursuing the problem with the Council to get it resolved.

Agreed action

19. I considered our guidance on remedies.
20. The Council will, within 4 weeks of the final decision on this complaint, carry out the following:
1. Send Mr Q a written apology for delaying providing him with new bins and for lacking systems that would: check the progress of the order; identify their non-delivery; act to ensure any problem with non-delivery was overcome; provide updates to Mr Q about the progress, or lack of progress, with his order; ensure the order was not delayed. The Council should also apologise for failing to properly and promptly update its systems with his address, failing to carry out missed collections, and for his inability to log missed collections;
2. Review its procedures to ensure order tracking for new bins is improved;
3. With its contractor, review its procedures to ensure: address updates to its systems are done promptly; new properties are promptly added to the lists crews use for collections; booked reported missed collections are carried out as arranged;
4. Monitor collections at Mr Q’s address for 2 months to ensure these are carried out; and
5. Pay Mr Q £250 in recognition of the frustration, stress, inconvenience, and difficulties the failures caused him.

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Final decision

21. The Ombudsman found fault on Mr Q’s complaint against the Council. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman