Middlesbrough Borough Council (20 010 574)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 01 Mar 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a missed recycling collection because there is insufficient evidence of injustice.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, says the Council missed a recycling collection in December.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 an investigation if we believe the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I read the compliant and the Council’s response. I considered comments Ms X made in reply to a draft decision.
What I found
What happened
- Ms X reported a missed recycling collection in December. She had put the bin out in the morning of the collection day. The Council, over the next few days, told Ms X to put the bin out again but the recycling was not collected.
- In response to her complaint the Council said the recycling bins in her road were collected that day at 1.30pm. It said the crew had reported that she had not put her bin out for collection. It asked Ms X to put the bin out by 7am.
- Ms X says she was told the missed collection was due to a crew member having COVID-19. She says she has not received an apology.
Assessment
- I am not sure why the recycling was not collected as Ms X says she put the bin out before the crew arrived. However, while I appreciate missed collections are annoying, and Ms X would like an apology, the impact of one missed collection is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.
Final decision
- I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman