Summary: Mr X complains the Council routinely fails to return his bins to his path when they have emptied them. The Council’s repeated failure to return Mr X’s bins to the front of his property when they are empty amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X complains the Council routinely fails to return his bins to his path when they have emptied them. He complains the crews leave the bins obstructing the public foot path and behind his car so he cannot reverse off his drive.
2. Mr X is unhappy that despite repeatedly reporting the problem and being assured by the Council it would not happen again, the Council still does not return his bins to his path.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the information provided by Mr X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Mr X; and
• sent a statement setting out my draft decision to Mr X and the Council and invited their comments.

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

6. 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. The Council generally expects residents to present their household waste and recycling at the front of their properties on collection day, but it can also identify collection points.
7. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.

What happened here

8. Mr X complains the Council routinely fails to return his bins to his path when it has emptied them. Mr X presents the bins on his path and expects the Council to return them to this position. He complains the crews leave the bins obstructing the public foot path and behind his car so he cannot reverse off his drive. He states that one week he had four bins behind his car.
9. Mr X is unhappy that despite repeatedly reporting the problem and being assured by the Council it would not happen again, the Council still does not return his bins to his path. He states he has CCTV recordings of the collection crews running down the street as though they are in a race, and either not collecting the bins, or once they are empty, not putting them back.
10. Mr X complained to the Council in November 2019. He complained the collection crew had left his, and his neighbour’s bins in front of his drive. He presents his bins for collection on his footpath and expects it to be retuned there. Mr X was unhappy that people were walking across his drive to get past the bins. The Council’s response confirmed the service manager had spoken to the crews and reminded them to return his bins.
11. As this did not resolve the problem Mr X asked the Council to review his complaint. He stated that for the last three weeks the crews had been leaving the bins where they felt like it. Mr X told the Council he had CCTV recordings to confirm this. The Council advised Mr X it would monitor his next three collections to verify the crews returned his bins to near the edge of his property.
12. Mr X raised a further complaint. He was unhappy that in response to his last two complaints the Council had assured him his bins would be put back where he leaves them. This did not happen, and the bins were still left as obstructions to pedestrians.
13. In its response the Council said the service manager had spoken to the crew and provided them with written instructions to return the bins. It apologised for the reduced level of service. Mr X was not satisfied by this response, which he considered was an automated copy of the Council’s previous responses. He complained the problem had been going on for months with the crews dumping the bins as they raced down the street. Mr X asked the Council to provide a proper response. The Council confirmed the service manager would speak to the crews again, and that it would extend the monitoring to check the bins were returned to the edges of properties.
14. As the service has not improved, Mr X has asked the Ombudsman to investigate his complaint. He states the bins are still just left on the street causing an obstruction. Mr X feels the crews seem to choose which bins to miss each week as they run down the street.
15. In response to my enquiries the Council has provided a photograph of Mr X’s property to illustrate where his bins should be left. This shows the presentation point is at the top of Mr X’s drive, rather than his footpath as Mr X would like.
16. The Council states there is no evidence to suggest a repeat failure to return the bins appropriately after emptying. The Council monitored Mr X’s collections from January to April 2020 through a combination of on-site inspections and discussions with crews. Its records show the monitoring was a success with household and recycling bins observed to have been returned correctly after emptying.
17. Mr X disputes this and has provided images from his CCTV footage, during the monitoring period, which he says shows a member of the collection crew walking off with his bin. Mr X states he had to retrieve his bin from up the road.

Analysis

18. The Council expects residents to present their household waste and recycling at the front of their properties on collection day. It is therefore reasonable to expect the Council will return the bins to the same point once they are empty. The failure to routinely return Mr X’s bins to the front of his property after collection amounts to fault.
19. The Council does not have a system for reporting problems with the collection crews not returning bins to the collection points, so it is difficult to confirm the extent of the problem. But the Council does not dispute that there have been issues with Mr X’s bins not being returned to the front of his property. It has apologised and reminded crews verbally and in writing to return his bins to his property. It is therefore unclear why this continues to be a problem.
20. Mr X disputes the accuracy of the Council’s monitoring records, and its view that the issue has been resolved. The Council states it monitored the collections through on-site inspections and discussions with crews, but its records do not provide any details. For example, it is unclear who carried out the on-site inspections and whether they were carried out weekly. Or whether on-site inspections took place immediately after the collections, or at some point later that day when residents or pedestrians may have moved the bins.
21. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mr X an injustice. When Mr X’s bins are not returned to the front of his property, he has to retrieve them from wherever they have been left in the street. Similarly, when his neighbours bins are left obstructing his driveway or the footpath he has to move/ return them. Mr X has experienced frustration and disappointment with the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. He has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

Agreed action

22. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pays him £100 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to return his bins to the front of his property when they are empty has caused.
23. The Council has also agreed to implement a three-month monitoring period to ensure Mr X’s and his neighbours bins are returned to the front of their properties when they are empty. The Council’s records of this monitoring should include details of how the monitoring was carried out.
24. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

25. The Council’s repeated failure to return Mr X’s bins to the front of his property when they are empty amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman