Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to Mr X’s concerns about his waste collections, the removal of fly-tipped material and the replacement of a light column outside his property. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I call Mr X, says the Council’s waste collection crews deliberately miss his rubbish collections, make too much noise early in the morning and discriminate against him because of his disability. He also says the white bags used for plastic recycling are unsuitable for him to use because of his disability, that fly tipping in a back alley has not been collected despite him reporting the issue and that a light column outside his property has not been replaced when all the others in his street have.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, 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), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council investigated Mr X’s concerns that his collections were deliberately being missed but found no evidence to support this claim. It said it would speak to the crews to ensure excess noise was kept to a minimum and to ask them to refrain from swearing when making collections.
6. It replaced Mr X’s bin for a new bin and asked crews not to use his bin to collect waste from other bins and it told him that he could use clear plastic bags instead of white ones for plastics.
7. With regard to the fly tipping, in response to my initial enquiry the Council has said there is only a small amount in the back alley and that Mr X’s threats to staff have made collecting it difficult.
8. We do not investigate every complaint we receive and in this case there is no evidence to suggest fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation. It has addressed Mr X’s concerns about waste collections, replaced the lamp column and will remove the fly tipped waste if it thinks it appropriate to do so, taking into account Mr X’s behaviour.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman