Sunderland City Council (19 018 666)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 12 Mar 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint that a Council refuse vehicle made a short-cut through a bus-only route. This is because an investigation is unlikely to enable us to establish whether there was fault.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr B, says he saw a Council refuse vehicle making a short-cut through a bus lane/bus only route.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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. We refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
- it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
- it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered:
- Mr B’s complaint to the Ombudsman;
- The correspondence between Mr B and the Council.
- I also gave Mr B the opportunity to comment on a draft version of this statement.
What I found
- Mr B contacted the Council to report that he had seen a refuse vehicle using a bus-lane route. The Council says its Refuse Department checked their vehicle’s trackers, and confirmed it was not one of their vehicles. The Council suggested it could have been another refuse company with similarly liveried vehicles to those used by the Council.
Assessment
- I appreciate Mr B is adamant that he saw a Council refuse vehicle. But in the absence of any video/photographic evidence or independent witnesses, I do not see that an investigation by the Ombudsman would enable us to establish what happened.
- So, with reference to paragraph 2 above, I do not consider the Ombudsman should investigate Mr B’s complaint.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint. This is because an investigation is unlikely to enable us to establish whether the Council acted with fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman