Summary: Mr X complains about the way the Council’s contractors have collected his bins. Mr X says this has taken time and trouble, and he has had to dispose of waste himself. The Ombudsman does not find the Council at fault. Two parts of Mr X’s complaint are outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction because they relate to allegations of criminal offences. Mr X could take these complaints to police or take private legal action.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr X, complains about the way the Council’s contractors have collected his bins. In particular, Mr X complains that:
1. the Council failed to collect his bins many times over the last year;
2. a member of the collection crew urinated on his property;
3. the bin lorries park on his drive despite the Council agreeing they would not do this;
4. he was nearly hit by the bin lorry on two occasions; and,
5. the collection crews are harassing him.
2. Mr X says this has taken time and trouble, and he has had to dispose of waste himself.

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What I have investigated

3. Mr X says the problems with bin collections go back five or six years. As I have said below (paragraph ten), the Ombudsman cannot investigate complaints that are more than 12 months old unless we decide there are good reasons to do so.
4. In this case, I do not consider there are good reasons to investigate this far back. I agreed with Mr X that my investigation would cover the period from July 2019 to September 2020, when he brought his complaint to the Ombudsman.
5. I have investigated parts a, b, and c of Mr X’s complaint. The final section of this statement contains my reasons for not investigating parts d or e of the complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

6. 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)
7. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)
8. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
9. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
10. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

11. I considered the information and documents provided by Mr X and the Council. I spoke to Mr X about his complaint. I considered the relevant legislation, set out below. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on an earlier draft of this statement. I considered all comments before I reached a final decision.

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What I found

What should have happened

12. The Council has a duty to collect and dispose of household waste (Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 45). The Council provides a household refuse collection service to Mr X’s property.
13. In April 2006, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published the ‘Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse’ (‘the Code’). The Code makes it clear that a local authority’s duties under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 are not transferable if an authority contracts a private company or other agency to carry out its cleansing duties on its behalf. The local authority retains its duties and responsibilities.
14. In this case, the Council has contracted a private company to collect waste on its behalf.

What happened

15. Between July 2019 and June 2020, Mr X complained to the Council that its contracted bin collection company did not collect his bins on numerous occasions.
16. The Council dealt with these complaints as service reports.
17. In May 2020, Mr X reported to the Council that he saw a crew member of the bin collection team urinating on the boundary of his property.
18. In August, Mr X twice told the Council that a bin driver attempted to hit him with the bin lorry.
19. The same month, the Council sent Mr X a formal complaint response about all the issues he raised. Regarding the urination allegation, the Council said that while there was evidence that a bin lorry was in the area at the time, there was no evidence to show the lorry stopped at his property, or that a crew member was responsible for the alleged incident.
20. The Council said that due to a lack of meaningful evidence, it was not in a position to adequately complete an investigation.
21. Regarding bin collections, the Council said its records showed 34 attempted collections which were reported as having issues, between July 2019 and June 2020. These reported issues meant Mr X’s bins either were not emptied or could not be emptied.
22. The Council said that on 23 occasions the bins were not presented for collection. It said on six occasions the bins were already empty. It said on five occasions, the wrong bin had been presented for collection.
23. The Council said that while Mr X disputed that bins were not presented on 23 occasions, there was a lack of evidence or information to either prove or disprove his claim. This was because many months had passed.
24. The Council acknowledged there had been issues with the collection company’s ability to collect Mr X’s bins, but it could not say where the responsibility lay. It apologised for any service failures.
25. Regarding bin lorries stopping on Mr X’s drive, the Council said that two years ago it agreed that bin lorries would not encroach onto Mr X’s land. The agreement was that bin lorries would stop on the highway. The Council said it had reminded the collection company about the agreement. The Council made an agreement with Mr X about how future collections would be collected.
26. The Council said it was satisfied that the service delivery was taking place in accordance with agreed service standards.
27. Mr X then brought his complaint to the Ombudsman.

Analysis

Failures to collect bins

28. Mr X complains that the Council failed to collect his bins many times over the last year (part a of the complaint). Mr X disputes the Council’s record of 34 problematic collections, but does not have records of his own. He says he took photos and sent them to the Council.
29. I have seen the Council’s records and the texts Mr X sent the Council, with photos. The evidence supports the Council’s account of 34 occasions when the collection company could not or did not empty Mr X’s bins. I cannot see any evidence that the Council or collection company were at fault for this.
30. I find no fault with the way the collection company (on behalf of the Council) collected Mr X's bins. I also do not find fault with the way the Council recorded or dealt with Mr X's reports of missed bin collections.

Crew member urinated on his property

31. Mr X complains that a member of the collection crew urinated on his property (part b of the complaint).
32. I find that the Council’s investigation of this allegation was proportionate. It considered the evidence Mr X provided but found the evidence was not conclusive, nor was it meaningful.
33. I agree that there is a lack of meaningful or persuasive evidence. I do not find fault with the way the Council investigated this complaint.

Bin lorries parking on his drive

34. Mr X complains that bin lorries park on his drive despite the Council agreeing they would not do this (part c of the complaint). Mr X says he has no evidence of this. He says he sent the Council photos.
35. The Council says it has no record of bin lorries parking on Mr X’s drive. Nor does it have a record of Mr X sending a photo of bin lorries parked on his drive.
36. I have seen the Council’s record of communication from Mr X. The photos Mr X sent the Council do not show any bin lorries parked on his drive. I have not seen any photos that show bin lorries parked on Mr X’s drive.
37. Mr X says bin lorries leave fluid on his drive and this is evidence that they park on his drive. I do not agree. There is no evidence that fluid on Mr X’s drive is from a bin lorry.
38. Given there is a lack of evidence showing bin lorries parking on Mr X’s drive, I cannot find the Council at fault.

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Final decision

39. I have completed my investigation. I do not uphold parts a, b, or c of this complaint. This is because there is no fault.
40. I have not investigated parts d or e of Mr X’s complaint. I have explained the reason for this below.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

41. I have not investigated parts d or e of the complaint because Mr X is alleging that collection crews have committed criminal offences against him.
42. In part d of the complaint, Mr X complains that he was nearly hit by a bin lorry on two occasions. He alleges that the lorry driver attempted to assault him or cause him harm. This is a criminal offence.
43. In part e, Mr X complains that collection crews are harassing him. Harassment is a criminal offence.
44. Allegations of criminal offences are outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and need to be dealt with by police.
45. Alternatively, Mr X could take private legal action against the collection company. As I have said in paragraph nine, the law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court.
46. In this case, I do not consider it unreasonable to expect Mr X to take his complaints (d and e) to court.
47. For these reasons, I have not investigated parts d or e of this complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman