Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council not believing the waste lorry took her bin, it refusing to replace the bin free of charge, and how it investigated the matter. Even if there has been Council fault, the matters complained of do not cause Ms X such significant personal injustice to warrant us investigating.

The complaint

1. Ms X says the Council’s bin crew took her entire wheelie bin into the back of the collection vehicle. She complains the Council:
1. will not believe her that the waste lorry took her bin;
2. has refused to replace the bin free of charge;
3. has not properly investigated the matter.
2. Ms X says the matter has annoyed her greatly and she will not buy a new bin. She wants the Council to provide her with a replacement bin free of charge.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained; or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(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 from Ms X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X says her entire bin went into the back of the waste collection lorry. The Council says that its system means bin staff would have given her a notification card if that had happened, then ordered her a free replacement bin. Ms X says the bin staff did not give her such a card and when she asked them about the card system, they did not seem to be aware of it.
6. We recognise Ms X has been caused annoyance by the situation. But even if there has been fault by the Council here in not believing Ms X, refusing to provide her with a free replacement bin, and in how it considered the matter, we will not investigate. A new bin would cost Ms X £22.50. The financial implications to Ms X, along with her annoyance, do not amount to a sufficiently significant personal injustice to her which would justify us using our resources to investigate.
7. We are not investigating the complaint, so cannot make formal recommendations to the Council. However, given the system issue raised by Ms X’s complaint, I will be suggesting to the Council that it reviews its process for when bins are taken by waste vehicles. This may include making sure bin crews are aware of and using the card system it says it has in place for such incidents.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because even if there has been Council fault, the matters complained of do not cause her such significant personal injustice to justify us investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman