Summary: Mr X complained he paid for a garden waste collection service which the Council failed to provide several times. He said this matter has caused him significant stress and inconvenience. The Council was at fault for consistently neglecting to provide the service Mr X paid for and providing unclear responses to Mr X’s complaints about this. This caused Mr X avoidable distress and financial loss. The Council has agreed to provide an apology and provide a £150 goodwill award.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained he paid the Council for a garden waste collection service which he did not receive. He further complained that he had to chase the Council for updates and did not receive satisfactory answers.
2. Mr X said he has been put to unnecessary stress and financial loss due to this matter.

Back to top

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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I made enquiries of the Council and considered the information it provided. This included, complaint correspondence shared between Mr X and the Council, and the Council’s response to our enquiries.
6. I wrote to Mr X and the Council with the details of the draft decision. I considered the comments I received from the Council and Mr X before I made the final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Council waste collection service

7. The Council offers a paid two weekly garden waste collection service to residential household for an annual fee.
8. The annual fee does not guarantee residents a fixed number of collections and the service may be suspended in exceptional services.

What happened

9. In August 2021 Mr X paid the Council to collect his garden waste on a fortnightly basis, with the first collection due in September 2021.
10. After the Council failed to collect Mr X’s waste on two occasions, Mr X made a formal complaint to the Council on 14 October 2021. The Council responded the next day saying there was a shortage of drivers in his area and the terms and conditions of the contract did not guarantee a specific number of garden waste collections per year.
11. Mr X complained again on 5 November 2022 after a further missed collection. He said the website confirmed the dates for waste collection, but nobody came to collect his bin.
12. The Council responded at Stage 1 of its complaints process on 15 November 2021 and confirmed that Mr X’s bins should have been collected. The Council told Mr X it had spoken to the contractor to address the issue and offered to extend the contract by 2 months to compensate Mr X for his time.
13. Mr X reported a further four missed collections and sent the Council several emails in December chasing for an update. Mr X was particularly upset the Council’s website reported that Mr X’s bins were not present as the reason for the missed collection when this was not true.
14. The Council investigated the issue and sent Mr X its Stage 2 response on 10 January 2022. The Council apologised for failing to collect Mr X’s waste. The Council could not explain why the waste contractor had continued to incorrectly Mr X’s bins as missing. The Council offered to refund Mr X or issue a further notice to the contractor to collect the waste.
15. Mr X brought the issue to the Ombudsman in February 2022 as he remained unhappy with the Council’s actions. He also complained that he asked the Council to provide a refund, but it ignored his request. The Council has confirmed it has since provided Mr X’s refund.
16. In response to our enquiries the Council has explained that two of the collections were missed due to driver shortages. The Council conceded it did not refund Mr X until the Ombudsman became involved with the complaint. The Council says it has changed its monitoring system and reminds its contractor daily which properties are due for a visit each day to ensure other residents do not experience this issue.

Findings

17. Between 10 September 2021 and 14 January 2022, Mr X reported 6 missed collections. The Council apologised and offered to refund Mr X for this but failed to offer a clear explanation for why this happened on several occasions. The Council also referred to its terms and conditions, which do not guarantee residents a specific number of waste collections, as justification for the service Mr X received. If a resident pays for a service, they should have some reasonable expectation of receiving that service. This clearly did not happen in Mr X’s case. This is fault. Further, having reviewed the Council’s response to Mr X’s complaint, I am not satisfied the Council provided full or clear explanations for why the issue kept reoccurring. The evidence also shows the Council did not make good on its offer to provide Mr X with a refund until the Ombudsman became involved, which is not best practice. Mr X was therefore put to unnecessary stress and inconvenience logging the missed collections, complaining to the Council and chasing it for an update. The Council should remedy the injustice Mr X experienced.

Back to top

Agreed action

18. Within one month of the date of the final decision the Council has agreed to provide Mr X with an apology for the time and trouble he was put to due to this matter.
19. Within one month of the date of the final decision the Council has agreed to provide Mr X with a £150 financial award to address the injustice he experienced.

Back to top

Final decision

20. The Council was at fault for failing to provide the service Mr X paid for. I have made recommendations to remedy the injustice he experienced and the Council has agreed to them. I have completed the investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman