Summary: Miss X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect her garden waste on the scheduled day in 2019. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Miss X’s garden waste amounts to fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect her garden waste in 2019. She states the Council missed over half the scheduled collections and having missed a collection it would then not take the excess at the following collection.

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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’. 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)
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

4. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the information provided by Miss X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Miss X; and
• Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Garden waste collections

5. The Council runs a fortnightly garden waste collection service for 40 weeks between March and December. The Council charges a fee for this service and it is only available to customers who have subscribed for the service in advance. The terms and conditions for this service state the Council will consider a refund where it has failed to rectify a reported missed collection of garden waste on three consecutive cycles.
6. When a missed collection is reported to the Council, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the collection is complete, the Council closes the report.

What happened here

7. Miss X states the Council missed half of the scheduled garden waste collections in 2019. She states the Council missed consecutive collections and it could be a month between collections. Mrs X states the problem of missed collections affects all her neighbours who have subscribed for the garden waste service. She states the Council has repeatedly missed collections from about eight properties on her street.
8. According to the Council’s records, Miss X reported six missed garden waste collections in 2019. Miss X disputes this and states she reported nine missed collections. The records show Miss X’s neighbours reported an additional four missed collections. The reports are all closed and indicate the Council made the missed collections on or around the next scheduled collection. However, there are inconsistencies in the Council’s records.
9. For example, Miss X reported a missed garden collection 8 November 2019 which the Council closed on 25 November 2019. But Miss X also reported the collection scheduled for 22 November 2019 as missed, and the Council did not close this report until 6 December 2019. If the Council had made a collection on 25 November 2019, it could have closed both reports that day.
10. There are also inconsistencies in the records of Miss X’s neighbours’ reports of missed collections. Miss X’s neighbours reported missed collections on 2 and 17 August 2019 which the Council closed on 19 August and 2 September 2019, respectively. This if curious as if the Council had made a collection on 19 August 2019, it could have closed both reports that day.
11. Miss X also made a formal complaint about the garden waste service. In October 2019 she complained the Council had missed eight collections so far that year. She stated she did not always report the missed collections but was unhappy with the information given when she did. Miss X complained she had reported a missed collection on 27 September 2019 and the Council had told her it would collect the waste in the next two days. If this was not possible the Council would collect the waste and any excess waste on the next scheduled collection. Miss X stated the Council emptied the garden waste bin on the next collection but did not take the excess waste. She asked the Council to look into the matter. Miss X also asked the Council to compensate her for the missed collections.
12. In its response the Council apologised for the missed collections and confirmed it had passed her complaint to the service manager who had spoken to the crew. The Council refused to refund Miss X’s fee for the garden waste service as she did not meet the criteria.
13. As Miss X was unhappy with the Council’s response, she asked for her complaint to be reviewed. She also reported a further missed collection. The Council confirmed the depot service manager was aware of the need to prioritise Miss X’s collection. It also reiterated that as Miss X had not reported three consecutive missed collections, she did not meet the criteria for a refund. Miss X remained dissatisfied and asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint.
14. The Council’s response to my enquiries does not offer an explanation for the level of missed collections. It states there have been no changes in 2019 or 2020 to the garden waste collection round which includes Miss X’s property. The Council has however arranged to monitor Miss X’s garden waste collections for three months. This should identify any root causes and provide a resolution.
15. Miss X states the Council has missed one of the collections during this monitoring period. She did not report this as it can take a long time to get through to the Council and she does not feel it achieves anything.

Analysis

16. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Miss X’s garden waste. These failings in the service amounts to fault.
17. Miss X expected the Council to collect her garden waste 20 times in 2019, but the records of Miss X and her neighbours’ reports of missed collections show it missed almost half of these. This is unacceptable in a service Miss X has paid for.
18. I recognise the Council is now monitoring Miss X’s collections and would expect this to lead to improvements in the service for 2020.
19. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused Miss X an injustice. Miss X has had to store her garden waste, often for several weeks at a time between collections. She has experienced frustration and disappointment with eth service, and has also been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

Agreed action

20. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and pay her £100 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to collect her garden waste has caused.
21. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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final decision

22. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Miss X’s garden waste amounts to fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman