Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about missed recycling collections. This is because the situation has improved and there is insufficient evidence of injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains about missed recycling collections. He wants the Council to provide a regular service.

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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:

• the problem has been resolved, 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 asked Mr X for an update and considered comments he made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

4. Mr X contacted the Council in late November to report two missed recycling collections. He said the Council had not collected the waste in the advertised time of two working days. Mr X then reported two more missed collections. Mr X says he had to take the waste to the recycling centre.
5. The Council apologised and said it had been experiencing operational difficulties which it was trying to resolve. For example, it had ordered new collection vans.
6. Mr X says there have been no missed collections this year. He is worried the problems will resume. He experienced similar problems early in 2019 with his refuse collections. Mr X says the Council should provide the service he pays for through his council tax.

Assessment

7. Missed collections are annoying and frustrating and Mr X experienced about four missed recycling collections. He also felt it necessary to go to the recycling centre rather than store waste until the Council collected it. However, while I appreciate this caused some inconvenience to Mr X, I will not start an investigation because the recycling collection service has improved and there is not enough injustice to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

8. I will not start an investigation because the collections have improved and there is insufficient evidence of injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman