Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the behaviour of the Council’s refuse collectors. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, and an investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Miss X, says the Council’s refuse collectors have abused, bullied, and harassed her for several years.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

3. And 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

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X contacted the Ombudsman in March 2021 about the behaviour of the refuse collectors. She said she had contacted the Council several times over the last three years about the issue.
7. With reference to paragraph 3 above, the Ombudsman does not normally considered matters which the complainant has been aware of for more than 12 months. I see no reasons why Miss X was prevented from contacting us about any incidents which occurred in 2018 or 2019, so I have restricted my consideration of the complaint to events from early-2020 onwards.
8. I understand Miss X contacted the Council eleven times between January and early-May 2020 about the behaviour of the refuse collectors. The Council wrote to Miss X on 11 June 2020. It said each of Miss X’s previous allegations had been investigated fully, including looking at the refuse vehicle CCTV, but her concerns could not be substantiated. The letter also said the Waste and Transport Manager had written to Miss X twice requesting a meeting, but had received no reply, and it provided the Manager’s telephone number if Miss X wanted to discuss the issue further.
9. The Council says it can find no other records of more recent correspondence with Miss X about this particular issue.
10. In my view, there is not evidence of fault in the way the Council responded to Miss X’s concerns in early/mid-2020 to justify an investigation by the Ombudsman. And even if we did start an investigation, it seems unlikely we would be able to now uncover any independent evidence to ascertain what happened or what was said during each of the alleged altercations with the refuse collectors.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify starting an investigation, and our continued involvement is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman