Summary: Miss X complains about missed waste collections by the Council. Miss X says this is impacting on her as she has to dispose of the waste herself. We will not investigate as there is insufficient evidence of a significant injustice to Miss X and we cannot add to what the Council has already said.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about several missed waste collections. Miss X says she has to take the waste herself to the recycling centre which is costing her time and money.

Back to top

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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered what Miss X said in her complaint and I have sent her my draft decision on it for her comments.

Back to top

What I found

4. Miss X is unhappy about the Council’s response to her complaint in October 2020 about a missed waste collection. The Council says the waste was not collected as the bin was contaminated with types of plastic that it does not collect. Miss X believes her bin was contaminated by passers by. Miss X says she has complained to the Council numerous times in the past year about missed collections but has provided no further detail about these problems.
5. The Council has told me Miss X contacted it in May and August 2020 about two missed collections. It says Miss X’s bin was not collected on these occasions as it had not been presented in time for collection.

Analysis

6. The Council has explained why collections were missed last year and I do not consider we can add to what it has said. Miss X has not provided evidence to suggest the Council’s account is wrong or evidence of an ongoing problem.
7. I do not consider therefore that there is evidence of Council fault causing Miss X a significant injustice and we will not therefore investigate.

Back to top

Final decision

8. My decision is we will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot add to what the Council says and there is insufficient injustice caused to Miss X.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman