Summary: Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to empty the communal waste bins servicing his block of flats. The Council’s repeated failure to collect the communal waste from Mr X’s block of flats amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to empty the communal waste bins servicing his block of flats.

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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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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

4. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the information provided by Mr X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Mr X; and
• Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

5. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in its area. The collections do not have to be weekly and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
6. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
7. When a resident reports a missed collection, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the Council has completed the collection, it closes the report.

What happened here

8. Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect the communal waste from his block of flats. He states the Council collects the recycling as scheduled, but often misses the household waste. Mr X has tried to log the missed collections on the Council’s website and is unhappy this facility is not available to residents of flats.
9. Mr X states that when he telephones the Council to report missed collections, he is told the waste will be collected in two or three days, but this does not happen.
10. The Council states Mr X reported four missed collections between October 2019 and March 2020. The reports are all closed which indicates the Council has since made the missed collections. However, the dates these reports were closed are inconsistent and do not suggest the Council made the collections in a timely manner. The records also suggest the Council may have missed other collections.
11. For example, Mr X reported missed collections on 8 October and 20 November 2019, which the Council closed on 2 January 2020 and 12 December 2019 respectively. It is unclear why, if the Council made a collection on 12 December 2019, it did not close both reports that day. Similarly, if the Council made any of the other scheduled collections in October, November, or December 2019, it could have closed the reports on those days.
12. The Council states there may be a delay between when it goes out to collect a missed collection and when it closes the report, so it is not necessarily the case that it also missed the intervening collections. However, the Council has not provided evidence of the dates it made the missed collections where they are different to the date the report was closed.
13. In addition to reporting missed collections, Mr X also made a formal complaint. In October 2019 Mr X complained that he had told the Council on 23 September 2019 that the bins had not been emptied for three weeks. An officer had told him the bins would be emptied in two to three working days, but they were not emptied until the next scheduled collection on 30 September 2019. Collections were then missed again on 7 and 14 October 2019. Mr X stated he was fed up with ringing to report missed collections only to be fobbed off. He asked the Council to investigate why the bins were not being emptied and for this to be rectified.
14. The Council’s response apologised for the reduced level of service and the inconvenience caused. It confirmed there were a number of operational difficulties it was working to resolve in an effort to get the service running back to normal collections. The Council asked Mr X to leave his bins out for collection and it would empty them as soon as possible. It also said that if the waste had not been collected within two days of reporting a missed collection, to take the bin back onto his property.
15. As there were further missed collections Mr X asked the Council to review his complaint. The Council apologised for the ongoing problems and confirmed it had changed Mr X’s collection day, which should help alleviate the problem. It would empty Mr X’s bins that day, and there would be a further collection the following day.
16. The service improved, but Mr X asked the Ombudsman to investigate his complaint as there were still missed collection. In response to my enquiries the Council states the four missed collections are likely to be due to staff sickness. It states the depot has since implemented a process which better enables it to cover for absences. The Council does not consider the four missed collections indicate a repeat failure to collect the communal waste.

Analysis

17. It is clear from the documentation available that the Council has repeatedly failed to collect the communal waste from Mr X’s block of flat. These failings in the service amount to fault.
18. The Council states Mr X reported four missed collections, but I consider it likely the Council missed several more collections. There are inconsistencies in the Council’s records, and I note Mr X’s complaints refer to consecutive missed collections and missed collections not included in the Council’s records.
19. I do not therefore consider the Council’s records are a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections.
20. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Mr X’s complaint. The Council’s initial response includes generic comments about presenting and taking bins back on to his property which are not relevant to Mr X’s communal bin collections. This suggests the Council had not investigated the specific details of Mr X’s complaint.
21. I recognise the Council has now taken action to resolve the problem and Mr X has confirmed the service has since improved.
22. The Council suggests the missed collections were due to staff sickness. This may account for sporadic missed collections, but it is unclear why this would be resolved by a change in collection day.
23. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mr X an injustice. Mr X has experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and resultant build-up of waste, and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. Mr X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

Agreed action

24. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £100 in recognition of the frustration, and difficulties the failure to make regular waste collections has caused.
25. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

26. The Council’s repeated failure to collect the communal waste from Mr X’s block of flats amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman