Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the actions of a refuse collector and the Council’s decision to exchange his bin for a smaller one. This is because an investigation by this office would not be able to add to the response the Council has already provided and because we cannot achieve the outcomes Mr X seeks.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains a refuse collector was rude and laughed at him when he accidentally put some prohibited items in his refuse bin which led to his bin not being collected. He also complains the Council subsequently exchanged his large bin for a smaller one.

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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 effect 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 the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered information on the Council’s website about refuse bin provision.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X complained to the Council about a refuse collector being rude and laughing at him when he mistakenly placed some prohibited items in his bin which led to it not being collected. Mr X said that following his complaint, the Council took away his large bin and replaced it with a smaller one without informing him. He also complains about the Council’s handling of his complaint.
8. Mr X would like the Council to return his larger bin and to know what disciplinary action the Council took against the employee.
9. In its complaint response, the Council apologised to Mr X for the way its employee had communicated with him. It said the worker had been spoken to about this. It explained that during its consideration of the complaint it found that Mr X had a larger bin than his two person household was eligible for. As a result it exchanged it for the correct size bin. It said Mr X should have been informed of the bin being replaced. It apologised for not doing so and acknowledged this would have been perceived as rude. The Council explained the process for requesting a larger bin should Mr X’s household increase to more than five people.
10. This is not a complaint we will investigate. This is because the Council has taken suitable action to remedy its fault by apologising to Mr X and it is unlikely we could add to the Council’s response were we to investigate. Also, we cannot achieve the outcomes Mr X seeks as there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision to replace his bin. This is because it has provided Mr X with the correct size bin for his household. This is in line with the information published on the Council’s website which states it does not supply larger bins to households with less than five people unless there are exceptional circumstances.
11. We cannot consider disciplinary matters as they lie outside our remit and such matters are confidential between employer and employee and so details would not be shared with Mr X.
12. Mr X also complains about the Council’s complaint handling, however we do not consider complaint handling issues in isolation where we have applied our discretion not to investigate the substantive complaint. This is because it is not a good use of limited public funds for us to do so.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation by this office would not be able to add to the response provided by the Council and because we cannot achieve the outcomes Mr X seeks.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman