Summary: Mr D complained the Council failed to provide an acceptable bin collection service. He also says the Council delayed and failed to properly deal with his complaint about the matter. We find the Council was at fault for its failure to provide a consistent bin collection service and its delays in responding to Mr D’s complaint. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

The complaint

1. Mr D complained the Council failed to provide an acceptable bin collection service. He also says the Council delayed and failed to properly deal with his complaint about the matter.
2. Mr D says he had to dispose of his own rubbish because of the Council’s failures. He also says he had maggots growing in his bin and he spent a significant amount of time contacting the Council to try and the resolve the issues.

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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 an organisation’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. I considered information from Mr D. I made written enquiries of the Council and considered information it sent in response.
6. Mr D 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

7. 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.
8. The Council offers a fortnightly collection for normal household waste and a fortnightly collection for recyclable waste. It collects each type of waste on alternative weeks.

The Council’s complaints procedure

9. The Council aims to respond to complaints at stage one within six working days. It will respond to complaints at stage two within 15 working days, and complaints at stage three within 20 working days. If the Council needs longer to investigate the complaint at any of the three stages, it will let the complainant know.

What happened

10. Mr D moved into a new house, on a new build estate, in August 2021. He contacted the Council the following month and said it had failed to collect his waste since he had moved in. The Council responded and said it had not collected his waste because it had not allocated a bin round to his address. It said it had now contacted the responsible team to resolve the issue.
11. Mr D responded on 23 September and asked the Council to escalate his complaint. He said it was unacceptable it had failed to collect his waste for four weeks.
12. The Council emailed Mr D and said it would empty his bins the following day. Mr D responded the following day and said it had still not emptied his bins. He asked it to escalate his complaint.
13. The Council updated Mr D a few days later and said the crew had reported the estate as a building site. It said his road was now accessible and it would empty his bins the following day.
14. Mr D continued to contact the Council and said it had failed to empty his bins. He emailed it on 28 September and re-iterated that he wanted to escalate his complaint. The Council responded and said it had sent his email to the area manager.
15. The property development agency for the new build estate emailed Mr D on 21 October. It told him to keep his bins outside his home as the Council would now be collecting them from there. It said he no longer had to move his bins across site to have them emptied.
16. Mr D emailed the Council on 22 November and said he still had not received a response to his complaint.
17. The Council responded the following day and apologised for the inconsistent service he received. It said it had problems assessing his estate due to parked vehicles and site traffic. It said in the short term it had created a temporary collection point. It said as soon as the building works on the development finished, it would then collect his bins from outside of his house.
18. Mr D responded and said the Council had told the property development agency the temporary collection point was no longer necessary on 21 October. He said his estate was no longer a building site.
19. Mr D sent a further complaint to the Council on 8 December about its failure to provide a consistent bin collection service. The Council responded the following day and explained it could not collect his bins when he first moved into his house because it was classified as a building site. It said it had fulfilled all recent missed collections the next available day.
20. Mr D replied to the Council and said it had only created a temporary collection bin point for the week beginning 4 October. He said after this, it told the site manager and residents this was no longer necessary. He said most of the time the crew did not return the following day to collect his waste. He asked if it was its final response.
21. The Council agreed to consider Mr D’s complaint at stage three of its complaints procedure on 29 December.
22. Mr D continued to report missed bin collections. The Council updated him on 19 January 2022 and said there would be a delay in responding to his complaint.
23. The Council emailed Mr D on 8 February and said temporary bin collection points were previously in place for several months. It sent a further email and said the team leader dealing with his complaint had now returned from work. It said it would ask for a response to his complaint as a matter of urgency.
24. The Council emailed Mr D on 25 February and said to resolve the issues it could write to all residents and ask them to present their bins at a set location until further notice.
25. The Council issued its final response to Mr D’s complaint on 18 March. It apologised for the delay. It said it made a reasonable assessment that the wagons could not access his street safely on a weekly basis. It said the service had invited him to discuss a suitable communal collection point to ensure his bins were collected more regularly.
26. Mr D remained dissatisfied with the Council’s response and referred his complaint to the Ombudsman.

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Analysis

27. The Council accepts there were missed bin collections, but it says these were due to road closures, parking issues and site traffic. It also says there were temporary bin collection points in place from February 2021 and all residents were advised and allocated temporary collection points. It has provided me a generic letter that it sent to some residents on 18 February 2021.
28. Mr D says the temporary bin collection point was only in place for a week. He disputes the Council could not access his estate to collect his waste.
29. I have not seen any evidence the Council advised Mr D about the temporary collection point when he moved into his house in August 2021. The Council told him in September 2021 it had not allocated a bin round to his address. There was nothing in the response about a temporary collection point, or any advice for Mr D to move his bins to the temporary collection point until it resolved the access issues. It is more likely than not it would have referred to this in its response if this was in place.
30. It is clear a temporary bin collection point was in place in October 2021. However, the property development agency emailed Mr D on 21 October and said this was no longer necessary. It is possible the agency misunderstood the situation, but I can understand why Mr D would not have moved his bins to a temporary bin collection point at that stage.
31. The Council’s emails with Mr D in January and February 2022 suggest the temporary bin collection point was no longer in place. However, it is clear there were still issues with accessing the estate and collecting Mr D’s waste, and so it should have reintroduced the temporary collection point much sooner. It only suggested this on 25 February 2022.
32. The Council’s failure to provide a consistent bin collection service for many months caused Mr D significant frustration and inconvenience. Mr D has advised me the Council has now resolved the situation and he is now receiving a regular bin collection service.
33. The Council also delayed responding to Mr D’s complaint throughout. This is fault. He asked for it to escalate his complaint on 28 September. The Council agreed to do this, but it failed to issue a response until 23 November. This is significantly outside of the timescales set out in its complaints procedure. The Council also took nearly three months to respond to Mr D’s complaint at stage three. It told Mr D the team leader had returned from leave on 8 February, but it still took until 18 March to provide a response. The Council’s faults have caused Mr D frustration and he was put to time and trouble chasing a response.

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Agreed action

34. To address the injustice caused by fault, by 31 October 2022 the Council has agreed to:

• Apologise to Mr D.
• Pay Mr D £200 for this time and trouble, inconvenience, and frustration.

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Final decision

35. There was fault by the Council, which caused Mr D an injustice. The Council has agreed to my recommendations and so I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman