Summary: Mr X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to collect the household waste from his street on the scheduled days or in a timely manner when collections are missed. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s household waste over a sustained period amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to collect the household waste from his street on the scheduled days or in a timely manner when collections are missed.
2. Mr X states there have been problems with the collections on his road for a number of years. He complains that despite repeatedly reporting missed collections and making formal complaints, the problem has continued.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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

5. 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 organisation 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

6. 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.
7. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
8. 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

9. Mr X states the refuse collection service for his street has been poor for the last three years and that the Council consistently missed collections throughout 2021. He states that between January and September 2021 the Council missed 25 collections. And that in August and September 2021 the Council missed five of the six scheduled collections. This led to an accumulation of waste on Mr X’s street which was unsightly, smelled and attracted flies and pests.
10. Although the Council advised him the missed collections would be made within 48 hours, Mr X states this has never happened and they have to wait until the next scheduled collection. By which time there is a build-up of waste, but the Council will not take the excess.
11. According to the Council’s records Mr X has reported 15 missed collections in the last 12 months. Save for the latest, 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 collection on 1 March 2021, which the Council closed on 16 March 2021. This would suggest that the intervening scheduled collection was also missed. If the Council had made this collection, it could have closed report that day.
13. 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.
14. Similarly, Mr X reported a missed collection on 8 February 2022, which the Council closed at the next scheduled collection on 15 February 2022. However, Mr X reported the collection due on 15 February 2022 as missed and the Council recorded this report as closed on 22 February 2022. Mr X also reported the collection scheduled for 22 February 2022 as missed and the Council closed this report on 1 March 22. It is unclear how the Council could close the reports on 15 and 22 February 2022, whilst also failing to make the scheduled collections on these dates.
15. Mr X’s neighbours also reported a significant number of missed collections throughout 2021 and the start of 2022.
16. In addition to reporting missed collections, Mr X also made formal complaints to the Council. In August 2021 Mr X complained the Council had again failed to collect the waste from the whole street. The Council had also missed a collection three weeks earlier and had not collected all the accumulated waste. He asked the Council to investigate the problem as this was a regular and ongoing issue. Mr X stated he had made a similar complaint in February 2021 and they were still having the same issues.
17. The Council’s response apologised for any inconvenience caused and advised that if a collection is missed the Council will aim to clear it on the next available opportunity. Where this is not possible and excess waste will be cleared on the next scheduled date. The Council noted it had now made further collections and the excess should have been removed.
18. Mr X contacted the Council again the following week as there had been a further missed collection. He was unhappy that when he called to report the missed collection he was told there was a note on the system that he had not presented his bin for collection. Mr X disputed this and asked for his complaint to be reviewed.
19. In its response the Council apologised for the further problems with Mr X’s household collections. It explained there had been an intermittent problem with its internal systems reporting missed collections which had led to Mr X incorrectly being advised his bin had not been presented. The Council had now fixed the problem, but this had taken longer than it would have liked.
20. The Council also stated it was still experiencing operational issues that were impacting on collections. It had plans in place to ensure repeated missed collections were not an issue going forward.
21. As there have been further missed collections Mr X has asked the ombudsman to investigate his complaint. He is unhappy the issue is ongoing and the Council has not taken responsibility for the problem or explained why it continues to happen. In response to my enquiries the Council states the depot are experiencing short term operational difficulties such as the availability of the narrower “alley cat” vehicle due to Mr X’s street having restricted access.
22. It states plans are being put in place to make the alley cat round more readily available to carry out weekly collections. The alley cat rounds work slightly differently to the normal rounds and as a temporary measure the Council will change the scheduled recycling collection day while it looks at the schedules. The Council states the depot are committed to resolving the issue as soon as possible.

Analysis

23. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Mr X’s household waste for an extended period of time. These failings in the service amount to fault.
24. The Council states Mr X has reported a total of 15 missed collections in the last 12 months, while Mr X asserts the Council missed, and he has reported, significantly more. There are inconsistencies in the Council’s records, and I note Mr X’s complaint refer to consecutive missed collections and waiting weeks for the Council to make collections.
25. 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 waste. It is concerning that the Council appears to have closed the reports of missed collections when it had not collected the waste.
26. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Mr X’s complaints. The Council’s initial response was generic and did not address Mr X’s particular concerns. While we would not criticise the Council for utilising a template for responses, this should be tailored to respond to the individual concerns.
27. The Council’s response to my enquiries suggests the missed collections are, in part, due to difficulties in accessing Mr X’s street. There is no record the Council told Mr X this was an issue or of the action it would take to ensure the collections could be made. Mr X states the Council has been able to access the street to make refuse collections for over 30 years. It is unclear why there would now be difficulties in doing so.
28. I note the Council is attempting to resolve the issue through the use of alley cat vehicle. This is to be welcomed but given the volume of missed collections and the length of time the problem has persisted I would have expected the Council to take action to resolve this matter sooner.
29. 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.
30. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mr X an injustice. As the missed collections affect the whole street Mr X has not only had to manage his own uncollected waste, he has also had to endure large amounts of uncollected waste on his street, over a sustained period of time. The accumulated waste means the area looks untidy, attracts pests and causes unpleasant smells. Mr X states he is clinically vulnerable and was at times unable to open his windows and the children could not play outside.
31. Mr X has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. He 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 pay him £300 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the failure to make regular waste collections over a sustained period has caused.
33. The Council has also agreed to arrange to monitor Mr X’s household waste collections for eight weeks to ensure the collections are carried out as scheduled.
34. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

35. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s household waste over a sustained period amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman