Summary: The Council has taken sufficient action to investigate and address unacceptable behaviour by refuse crews.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council has not taken sufficient action to stop unacceptable behaviour from refuse crews which causes distress to him and his family.

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What I have investigated

2. I have investigated events from August 2019.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. 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 or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

5. 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

6. I have:
• Considered the complaint and the information provided by Mr X;
• Discussed the issues with Mr X;
• Made enquiries of the Council and considered the information provided;
• Invited Mr X and the Council to comment on the draft decision.

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What I found

7. Mr X previously made a complaint to us about unacceptable behaviour by refuse crews. We declined to investigate the complaint as we considered the Council had provided an appropriate response.
8. Mr X made further complaints about unacceptable behaviour by refuse crews between August and November 2019. The Council investigated the complaints under stage one of its two stage complaints procedure. It advised Mr X that it had spoken to the individuals concerned and warned them that their behaviour was unacceptable. The Council has said it also reminded crews about unacceptable behaviour.
9. Mr X escalated his complaint to stage two of the Council’s complaints procedure. Mr X and the Council have provided evidence of two response sent to Mr X. The Council has said one response was sent to Mr X by email on 24 January 2020. This informs Mr X that the Council has reminded crews of the need to respect private property. The officer also said he would investigate specific incidents in the future if Mr X could provide date, time, specific location and description of the individual involved. Mr X has provided a copy of a letter sent by the Council on 26 January 2020 apologising for an incident and assuring him the person had been dealt with.
10. Mr X tried to report a further incident in June 2020. He said the Council told him it was not accepting complaints due to COVID-19. He then reported the incident to the local depot. The Council has said it was continuing to accept complaints about refuse crews’ conduct and it did not receive a complaint in June 2020 from Mr X. It’s position is that Mr X has not reported any further incidents since November 2019 so it considered the action take had resolved the matter.

Analysis

11. The evidence shows the Council has investigated Mr X’s complaints and reminded individuals and crews that such behaviour is unacceptable. I am mindful of Mr X’s view that this action was insufficient as a further incident occurred in June 2020. It is also not clear if the Council was responding to Mr X reporting a further incident in its letter of 26 January 2020. But Mr X did not raise a further incident for a period of at least six months after this time. So, I cannot conclude, on balance, that the Council did not take sufficient action to address the problem.
12. Mr X says he tried to report the incident in June 2020 to the Council and has provided the telephone number he used to report the incident. He says he also reported it to the local depot. The Council has said it has not received any further reports since November 2019. I cannot resolve this conflict and establish what happened without further investigation. But I do not consider it is proportionate to investigate further as Mr X has only reported one incident in six months and there have been no further incidents since June 2020. So, there is no evidence of a continuing and sustained problem which would justify further investigation.

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Final decision

13. The Council has taken sufficient action to investigate and deal with Mr X’s complaints of unacceptable behaviour by refuse crews. I have therefore completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman