Summary: Mr X complained the Council repeatedly failed to collect his household waste or recycling on the scheduled day or in a timely manner when collections were missed. He complained the accumulation of uncollected waste was unsightly and attracted vermin. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s household waste and recycling amounts to fault. This fault has caused an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his household waste or recycling on the scheduled day or in a timely manner when collections are missed. He states that despite making a complaint and being assured the service would improve the problem has continued.

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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 documents provided by Mr X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Mr X
• 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 repeatedly failed to collect the household waste and recycling from his street when collecting from the adjoining streets. He states the service improved in late 2019 following his complaints, but there were then further problems in the autumn of 2020.
9. According to the Council’s records, Mr X reported one missed household waste collection in September 2019 and another in September 2020. He also reported four missed recycling collections between February 2 and October 2020.
10. Other residents in Mr X’s street also reported a few missed collections in September and October 2019 and significantly more in 2020, particularly between July and November 2020.
11. 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 also missed other collections.
12. For example, Mr X reported a missed household waste collection on 2 September 2019, which the Council closed on 16 September 2019. This suggests the Council also missed the collection scheduled for 9 September 2019. If the Council had made this collection, it could have closed the report that day.
13. In addition, another resident reported a missed collection on 17 September 2019, which the Council closed on 30 September 2019. If the Council collected the household waste from Mr X’s street on 16 September 2019 as its records suggest, his neighbour would not have needed to report this missed collection.
14. 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.
15. In addition to reporting missed collections, Mr X made a formal complaint to the Council. In early August 2019 Mr X complained it was almost three weeks since the Council had collected the waste from his street, and this had led to problems with maggots and flies. Mr X stated there had been numerous missed collections and asked for a council tax refund and compensation for the inconvenience.
16. The Council’s response apologised for the delay in collecting the waste and confirmed it had now cleared the uncollected waste. The Council explained it had managed to stabilise the service over recent months, but there were still a number of ongoing operational difficulties it was working to resolve. Mr X did not consider the Council’s had addressed his concerns.
17. Where there was a missed collection, the Council advised residents to leave their bins out for two days, and if it was not collected to return them to their properties. The Council would then collect it on the next scheduled collection day. Mr X was unhappy the Council had visited his street to clear the accumulated waste more than two days after the missed collection. This meant many of the bins did not get emptied as they were not out on the street. He also complained the Council had missed a further scheduled collection.
18. Mr X asked the Council to review his complaint. He also contacted his local councillors for assistance. Mr X wanted an explanation for the collection crews’ refusal to collect from his street. He questioned why they regularly missed his street while the neighbouring streets were not affected by the operational difficulties.
19. The Council reviewed his complaint and explained it had escalated the matter to the depot manager. The manager confirmed the operational difficulties were now resolved and collections from Mr X’s street were back on track.
20. Mr X’s councillor told him the collection crew had refused to collect from Mr X’s street because of alleged intimidation from a local resident. They also confirmed the Council had now assigned a smaller Alley Cat vehicle to collect the waste from Mr X’s street. There had been a further missed collection due to confusion over whether this was a permanent change, but collections would now return to normal.
21. Mr X states the service then improved at the end of 2019, although there were still the occasional missed collections. He states the service then deteriorated again in the summer of 2020, and at one stage their recycling was not collected for over a month. Mr X contacted his councillors for assistance, who in turn contacted the Council. The Council confirmed it had escalated the matter to the depot and arranged for an immediate collection of the outstanding waste. Mr X’s street was now allocated to an alley cat round which should resolve the problem. The Council also confirmed it would monitor the household waste and recycling collections which should lead to an improvement in the service.
22. As Mr X was not satisfied by the Council’s response, he has asked the Ombudsman to investigate his complaint. In response to my enquiries the Council states there is no evidence to suggest a crew would ever refuse to collect from any location. It states that throughout 2020 the waste management service was taking steps to procure new vehicles as the existing ones were coming to the end of their life. It states this created operational difficulties as breakdowns impacted on the service.
23. The Council states there was also a particular problem with collections from Mr X’s street due to parked cars. Changing to smaller collection vehicles has improved the service for all waste types. The Council’s monitoring records show there was only one missed collection between October 2020 and January 2021. This was due to a number of parked vehicles blocking the access. The Council also states it has not received any reports of missed household waste or recycling collections from Mr X’s street in 2021.

Analysis

24. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect the household waste and recycling from Mr X’s street. These failings in the service amount to fault.
25. The Council states Mr X has reported a total of six missed collections, but I consider it likely the Council missed significantly more collections. There are inconsistencies in the Council’s records, and I note Mr X’s complaints refer to other missed collections not included in the Council’s records. He also complains of consecutive missed collections and waiting weeks for the Council to make collections.
26. I do not therefore consider the Council’s records are a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections, or when it actually collected the household wate and recycling.
27. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Mr X’s complaints. Despite the Council’s assurances it had resolved the problem, the service did not improve, and the missed collections continued.
28. The Council states the depot can monitor reports of missed collections by analysing their dropped work spreadsheets to see if certain streets/addresses start to appear frequently. Its mobile technology (in cab device/mobile hand-held device) can also flag up repeat missed collections. Mr X and his neighbours’ recurring reports should therefore have alerted the Council to a potential problem. This should in turn have prompted an investigation to identify and resolve the issue.
29. The Council’s response to my enquiries states it first identified Mr X’s street needed an alley cat vehicle at the start of lockdown in March 2020, due to an increase in parked cars. The alley cat vehicles are in short supply and the Council states it had to review and re-route collection rounds. It therefore took some time before it could add Mr X’s street to an alley cat round. However, the documentation shows the Council was aware of the access problems due to parked cars in 2019. The Council advised Mr X’s councillor in October 2019 that it had assigned an alley cat vehicle to collect the waste from Mr X’s street on a permanent basis.
30. If the Council assigned an alley cat vehicle to collect Mr X’s street’s waste in 2019, it is unclear why this did not remain on place and had to be reassigned in 2020. I recognise that having reassigned an alley cat vehicle the service has improved again but consider the missed collections in 2020 could have been avoided.
31. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mr X an injustice. Mr X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected household waste and recycling left at his property and experienced the problems of smells and pests associated with the accumulation of uncollected waste on the street. He has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections 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.

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Agreed action

32. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pays him £200 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to make regular household waste and recycling collections has caused.
33. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

34. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s household waste and recycling amounts to fault. This fault has caused an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman