Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint that the Council has discriminated against the complainant by requiring her to have a permit to use the recycling centre. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, says the Council has discriminated against her by requiring her to get a permit to take waste to the recycling centre. She wants the Council to change the policy or allow her to have unrestricted use while driving a truck.

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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 it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and correspondence between Mrs X and the Council. I considered the complaint replies and the permit policy. I considered comments Mrs X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Permit policy

4. Since October 2019 people who take waste to the recycling centre in a commercial type vehicle must get a permit. The permits are free and provide for 12 visits in each 12 month period. People who do not drive a commercial type vehicle do not have to get a permit and can make unlimited visits.

What happened

5. Mrs X drives a truck. She does not use it for any commercial activity. She complained to the Council about the permit scheme. She says she is being discriminated against and needs to make unlimited trips to the recycling centre because she has a large garden. She asked the Council to allow her to make unrestricted visits and to be treated in the same way as people who do not drive commercial type vehicles.
6. In response the Council explained that councillors had decided to introduce the policy to limit the rising costs of dealing with waste taken to the recycling centres. It said that the costs were increasing partly due to people taking commercial or building waste to the centres. It did a consultation exercise and 49% of the respondents supported the proposal and 28% agreed to some extent. It explained it had carried out a community impact assessment and no problems emerged. It said councillors had decided it was appropriate to limit commercial type vehicles to 12 visits because they can carry more waste than non-commercial vehicles. It said it will review the scheme after one year.

Assessment

7. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The policy says that people who drive a commercial type vehicle must get a permit and visit no more than 12 times a year. Mrs X drives a commercial type vehicle so the Council’s decision that she must use the permit scheme is correct. In addition, the Council has explained why it introduced the scheme and why councillors decided it was fair to limit the visits. The Council introduced the policy in October, based on a decision made by councillors in May. It is for the Council, not the Ombudsman, to decide what policies to adopt. If Mrs X thinks the policy is wrong she will need to lobby councillors for a change of policy or give feedback for the review.
8. Mrs X says she is being discriminated against. However, equalities legislation relates to treating people differently on the grounds of protected characteristics such as race, sexuality, religion, gender or disability. It does not apply to the type of vehicle someone owns. In addition, the Council did an assessment to make sure the policy does not breach equalities legislation.
9. Mrs X wants the Council to grant her unlimited visits and has stressed the large size of her garden. However, the Council has to apply the policy consistently and could not exempt one truck driver from the policy. It also gave advice on other ways Mrs X could dispose of some of her garden waste.
10. Mrs X has suggested the policy could contribute to an increase in fly-tipping. If this happens then it is something Mrs X could feed back as part of the review.

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Final decision

11. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman