London Borough of Tower Hamlets (19 012 831)

Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 21 Sep 2020

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mr C complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect his general waste, food waste and recycling on the scheduled days or respond in a timely way to his reports of missed collections. Mr C says his bins overflow and the area is unsightly and unhygienic and he has spent unnecessary time and trouble in reporting the issues. The Ombudsman has found fault by the Council but considers the agreed actions of an apology, small payment and period of evidenced monitoring are enough to provide a suitable remedy.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr C, complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his general waste, food waste and recycling on the scheduled days or respond to his reports of missed collections in a timely way. Mr C also says the Council has provided contradictory information about waste collection in his area. Mr C further complains the Council delayed in responding to his formal complaint and did not put in place any monitoring arrangements to resolve the issues.
  2. Mr C says because of the Council’s fault, his bins overflow and the area is unsightly and unhygienic and he has spent unnecessary time and trouble in reporting the issues.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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)
  2. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)
  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)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I read the papers provided by Mr C and discussed the complaint with him. I have considered some information from the Council and provided a copy of this to Mr C. I have explained my draft decision to Mr C and the Council and considered the comments received before reaching my final decision.

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What I found

  1. Section 45 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 says councils have a duty to collect household waste.
  2. The Council says it provides a weekly collection of domestic waste and recycling to houses via a wheeled bin or recycling sacks. From flats the service is provided via a communal bin. The Council had an agreement with a contractor to manage this service.
  3. Mr C complained to the Council at the end of May 2019 about the inconsistent and failed collections for his refuse and food waste. The Council responded to Mr C at the end of June. The Council set out the dates of missed collections from Mr C’s property but considered their infrequent nature did not show a systematic failure although it was aware of an issue with the recycling schedule. The Council had carried out a review of the recycling rounds across the Borough in partnership with its waste collections contractor to increase the reliability of these rounds. The Council explained the changes had been implemented in April 2019 and it had also made a decision to bring the service back in-house from April 2020 and was to invest in a new fleet of vehicles and IT systems to help improve the reliability of the service.
  4. Mr C contacted the Council in July as he remained unhappy with the Council’s response. Mr C provided details of additional reports he had made about missed collections using the Council’s app. Mr C also noted the Council had provided inconsistent information about collection dates including conflicting information on its app and website. Mr C was also unhappy the Council had identified his waste as abandoned after he had reported a missed collection at the end of May. Mr C also noted it was not possible to attach photos to online reports as suggested by the Council in its initial response.
  5. The Council provided a further response to Mr C in August. The Council noted Mr C’s username had changed which meant it had not identified his reports from January 2019 onwards. The Council explained the app Mr C had been using had not been intended to report missed waste collections although the Council accepted some users did so. The Council explained it had introduced new online reporting forms to report missed collections and apologised for saying photographs could be attached as this was not the case. The Council accepted there had been an ongoing issue with the collection of Mr C’s waste. The Council also accepted the wrong collection date had been used in a letter to residents and confirmed the correct collection day for recycling. The Council explained the reasons for treating his waste as abandoned in May but accepted that if it had collected the reported waste on the scheduled day there would have been no need for this action. Finally, the Council noted the collection of domestic waste was incorrectly scheduled for both Tuesdays and Fridays which may have been the cause of missed collections. The Council confirmed the correct day for Mr C’s weekly domestic waste. The Council apologised to Mr C for the service he had received but did not consider compensation was appropriate.
  6. Mr C contacted the Council again in October to complain he was still experiencing repeated missed collections and his reports were not being responded to. The Council responded to Mr C in November and apologised for the delay. The Council noted there had been four reports relating to Mr C’s street since the response to his complaint in August. There had been one report of fly tipping, one report of a missed domestic collection and two reports of missed food waste collections. The Council confirmed all the reports of missed collections had been resolved. The Council reiterated that the app was not intended to be used to report missed collections and reminded Mr C of the correct reporting method to ensure the matter was dealt with. The Council apologised for the previous problems Mr C had experienced and stated it was allocating an officer to monitor the collections in Mr C’s street to ensure if there were any delayed collections these would be quickly followed up and resolved until it completed the process of bringing the service back in house.
  7. The Council in its response to the Ombudsman says residents can report missed collections in writing or via its dedicated app “Love Your Neighbourhood” (for Android and iOS devices), via email, via phone or on-line via the Councils web-site using the “report it” link at the top of the home page. This appears to be contrary to the Council’s position above that the app was not intended to be used to report missed collections.
  8. The Council has provided details of missed collections for Mr C’s street. These show Mr C reported a missed collection for domestic waste on 6 June 2019 and a missed food waste collection on 30 August. Mr C also reported on 7 November that his waste collection was being missed every week and that his food waste should be collected on a Wednesday as shown on the Council’s website.
  9. The Council has confirmed to the Ombudsman that it has invested in a new fleet of waste collection vehicles with in-cab technology including live collection and routing systems, live telematic tracking and 360 degree CCTV coverage. The Council says this technology allows for greater control and performance monitoring of crews during their scheduled rounds. The Council accepted there have been some teething problems with the new system and staff resourcing issues as a result of the Covid19 pandemic. The Council is confident the above actions will lead to a continuing improvement in its service.
  10. I am satisfied the Council is at fault. It has a duty to collect Mr C’s waste and offers a weekly collection service. The Council has not satisfactorily delivered this service.
  11. The Ombudsman will generally consider the injustice that may be caused by an occasional missed collection is unlikely to warrant a remedy beyond the waste being collected. However, we may consider a further remedy is required where there are repeated missed collections over a period of time. Based on the information provided, I am satisfied that Mr C has reported missed collections over such a period. Whilst, the Ombudsman welcomes the Council’s actions above, I consider a further remedy is required in the circumstances of this complaint.  

Agreed action

  1. The Council has agreed to take the following actions:
      1. the Council should apologise to Mr C for the continued inconvenience he has suffered by the Council’s failure to address the issues with his waste collections within one month of my decision;
      2. pay Mr C £100 to acknowledge his time and trouble in pursuing his complaint within one month of my decision;
      3. monitor all the waste collections at Mr C’s address for two months following my decision and keep an accurate record detailing when collections were made, any problems found and the action taken to resolve them including dated timed photographic evidence of any issues that may arise;
      4. review its communications to ensure it is providing consistent information about the collection schedule for Mr C’s road within one month of my decision;
      5. review whether residents should be able to use the app to report missed collections and ensure it provides consistent advice about this in future within one month of my decision; and
      6. if the app can continue to be used ensure these reports are properly recorded as missed collections and actioned accordingly.

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Final decision

  1. I have completed my investigation as I have found fault by the Council but consider the agreed actions above are enough to provide a suitable remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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