Summary: Mrs X complained that the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste on the scheduled day, despite collecting her neighbours’ waste. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s household waste as scheduled amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X complained that the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste on the scheduled day, despite collecting her neighbours’ waste.
2. Mrs X complained that despite repeated complaints and assurances the service will improve, the problems have 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 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. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mrs X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• Mrs X 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

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. Mrs X states there have been problems with her bin collections since early July 2021. She states that on several occasions she has seen the collection crew drive past her section of the road without stopping, having collected her neighbours’ waste. Mrs X feels the Council has not taken the matter seriously and has ignored her concerns as despite repeatedly complaining and reporting missed collections the problem has continued.
10. According to the Council’s records Mrs X reported six missed collections between July 2021 and January 2022. The reports are all closed which indicates the Council has since made the missed collections. Most were closed around the time of the next scheduled collection. A significant number of Mrs X’s neighbours have also reported missed collections since July 2021.
11. Mrs X has also made several formal complaints about the service, the first of which was in July 2021. She complained the crew had collected her neighbours’ waste but missed hers for the last two weeks. This meant her bin was now full of three weeks’ worth of rubbish and she had nowhere to store the excess. Mrs X asked for an officer to call her to discuss the problem and for the Council to collect her waste.
12. The Council responded three weeks later and apologised for the poor service and delay. It confirmed it had raised reminders for her missed collections and had asked the managers to speak to the crews about their conduct.
13. This did not resolve the problem and Mrs X made a further complaint in October 2021. She stated the collection vehicle did not drive up her section of the road, and instead the crew walked up to collect the bins. Mrs X was concerned that rather than empty all of the bins, the crews cherry picked the bins they wanted to collect. Mrs X was unhappy she had made multiple complaints about this and each time was told it had been passed to a manager to deal with. This was ineffective in resolving the problem. She again asked for an officer to call her to discuss how this could be resolved.
14. Whilst waiting for the Council’s response, Mrs X reported further missed collections. The Council’s response apologised for the delay in responding to Mrs X’s complaint and for the inconvenience of the missed collections. It again confirmed the manager was aware of the problem and would investigate and deal with the individuals concerned. The Council assured Mrs X it took this matter seriously and that behaviour of this nature was unacceptable and would not be tolerated.
15. As there were further problems with the crews emptying some, but not all the bins, Mrs X asked the Council to escalate her complaint. She questioned whether anyone had spoken to the crews and whether the crew were now ignoring her section of the street out of spite because she had complained.
16. The Council reviewed Mrs X’s complaint and responded on 22 December 2021. It noted its records showed Mrs X had not reported a missed collection since October and hoped there had been an improvement in the service. As a collection was due the following day, the Council had asked a depot manager to remind the crew and monitor the situation. The Council advised Mrs X there were operational difficulties affecting collections, including ongoing challenges connected to managing COVID -19 and seasonal sickness across the work force. Where possible crews were covering dropped work and it was trying to bring in other drivers to help, but there was a national shortage of HGV drivers.
17. Mrs X was not satisfied by the Council’s response and informed the Council’s its investigation was incorrect. She referred to reports of missed collections and photographs she had provided since her complaint in October which she asserted the Council had failed to review. She also disputed the missed collections were due to the operational difficulties the Council had described. Collection crews visited her road, they just did not collect her waste. Mrs X noted the Council had told the Parish Council that her house number did not exist.
18. As the Council did not respond, Mrs X has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. She states the service is still intermittent and the missed collections have continued into 2022.
19. In response to my enquiries the Council states that over the last two years there has been some localised disruption to collection services due to operational issues. It states depots are now working in collaboration with one another to provide services across the city. Where there are staffing shortages teams from other depots are assisting to make collections where possible. The Council does not consider there has been any delay in resolving the problems with Mrs X’s collections.

Analysis

20. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect Mrs X’s waste on the scheduled day. These failings in the service amount to fault.
21. The Council states Mrs X reported five missed collections in 2021 and a further missed collection in January 2022. However Mrs X states there have been further missed collection in 2022, and her complaints to the Council refer to missed collections in October and December 2021 which are not included in the Council’s records. I do not therefore consider the Council’s records are a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections and consider there were more than six missed collections.
22. I recognise the Council may have had operational difficulties and staffing shortages, but that does not necessarily explain Mrs X’s missed collections. There appear to be collection crews available to collect Mrs X’s waste as they visit her street and collect her neighbours’ waste. The Council has offered no explanation for why Mrs X’s waste is not collected at the same time as her neighbours’.
23. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council has dealt with Mrs X’s complaints. The stage two investigation did not take account of all of the information Mrs X had provided. And despite the Council’s assurances it had reminded the crew members and regular collections would be made, the service did not improve, and the missed collections continued.
24. Having identified fault, I must now consider whether this has caused Mrs X an injustice. Mrs X has had to find ways to manage the uncollected waste left at her property, sometimes for multiple weeks. This is particularly frustrating when the Council has collected her neighbours’ waste, and creates the perception the crew has deliberately missed her bin. She has also experienced frustration and disappointment with the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. Mrs X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

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Agreed action

25. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £200 in recognition of the frustration, difficulties the failure to make regular waste collections has caused.
26. The Council has also agreed to arrange to monitor Mrs X’s household waste collections for eight weeks to ensure the collections are carried out as scheduled.
27. The Council should take this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

28. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s household waste as scheduled amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman