Summary: The Ombudsman has discontinued his investigation of this complaint, about a replacement bin. This is because there is insufficient evidence of injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, to whom I refer as Mrs J, says the Council wrongly removed her general waste bin. After she complained, the Council agreed to replace it, but the bin it supplied was unclean. Mrs J complains the Council has refused to provide a clean replacement bin.

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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 or continue with an investigation if we believe 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 reviewed Mrs J’s correspondence with the Ombudsman.
4. I also shared a draft copy of this decision with each party for their comments.

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What I found

5. Mrs J says she left her bin out for a private collection in November 2019. Despite informing the Council of this, she says it confiscated the bin.
6. After complaining to the Council, it agreed in January 2020 to replace the bin free of charge. However, Mrs J says the bin the Council provided was unclean.
7. Mrs J complained again to the Council. In response, the Council said it had visited her property the previous day to leave the replacement bin, but had found one already on site. It would therefore not leave a second bin.
8. Mrs J subsequently referred her complaint to the Ombudsman. She says she cannot use the bin she believes the Council provided, as it is dirty and smelly.

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Analysis

9. Mrs J believes the Council has provided an unclean replacement bin, while the Council says it has not provided a replacement bin at all, as Mrs J already had one when it visited the property. It is unclear how this has happened.
10. However, whatever the facts, Mrs J has a functioning bin. I appreciate she says it is unclean, but I do not see how this could prevent her from using it. I do not consider this to represent a significant injustice.
11. I cannot say whether there has been any fault in the Council’s handling of this matter. But investigations by the Ombudsman are at public expense; and, as I do not consider Mrs J has suffered an injustice, it would not be appropriate to complete an investigation here.

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Final decision

12. I have discontinued my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman