Summary: Mr X complained the Council had repeatedly missed his household waste collections. He says the situation did not improve despite raising concerns with the Council. We have found fault in the Council missing multiple collections and failing to resolve the issue initially despite assurances that action would be taken. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mr X for the time and trouble caused him.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained to the Council about repeated missed collections at his property. He says the situation did not improve despite assurances from the Council that action would be taken.
2. Mr X says this resulted in excess rubbish as the Council did not make up for the missed collections.

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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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. Service failure can happen when an organisation fails to provide a service as it should have done because of circumstances outside its control. We do not need to show any blame, intent, flawed policy or process, or bad faith by an organisation to say service failure (fault) has occurred. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1), as amended)
5. 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

6. As part of my investigation, I have considered Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s responses.
7. I have discussed the complaint with Mr X and considered the information he and the Council have provided.
8. Mr X and the Council have had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. Both parties have accepted the conclusions and recommendations made in my draft decision.

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What I found

9. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to arrange for the collection of 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.
10. The Council’s website says non-recyclable refuse collection for Mr X’s property is completed weekly on a Wednesday and notes that should this change, the Council will write to householders to let them know what is happening.
11. Residents can report missed collections through the Council’s website.

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What happened

12. Mr X’s refuse was not collected on three occasions in June 2023. He contacted the Council about the missed collections at the time and collections were then made in July 2023.
13. The Council then missed four collections in August 2023 and Mr X raised a complaint. The Council acknowledged that its collection rates had not been good enough and apologised in its final response to the complaint in August 2023. It explained that missed collections had been due to overgrowth blocking access and leading to parking which blocked Mr X’s street.
14. The Council also offered Mr X a £50 compensation payment in addition to a previous £50 which had been offered for the missed collections and explained it was confident collect rates would improve.
15. A further collection was missed in September 2023 and Mr X again raised this with the Council.
16. Mr X reported a further three missed collections in October 2023 to the Council. It responded by apologising and telling Mr X it would look into it. The Council confirmed the issue with the collection in mid-October 2023 was to do with parking and the refuse vehicle not being able to access Mr X’s street.
17. The Council said it would use a smaller vehicle to make the collections and would look into ways to try to rectify the issues with parking to allow the regular vehicle access.
18. A collection was then missed at the start of November 2023 and Mr X raised his complaint with the Ombudsman.
19. Mr X has confirmed that more recently collections have improved.

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Analysis

20. Mr X reported a significant amount of missed collections between June and November 2023 to the Council.
21. Whilst the Council responded to Mr X’s concerns and said the collection rates were not good enough in its response to Mr X’s complaint in August, collections continued to be missed during September, October and November 2023.
22. The Council has explained the missed collections were due to factors such as overgrowth blocking access which led to parking blocking access to Mr X’s street.
23. I accept there may have been factors which led to the missed collections identified by the Council. However, the same factors were repeated several months later when Mr X continued to encounter missed collections.
24. I find the Council at fault for failing to adhere to its duty to collect Mr X’s waste in accordance with the information produced on its website. This is because of the significant amount of missed collections experienced by Mr X between June and November 2023, which has caused him distress and frustration.
25. Mr X has also been caused additional frustration and trouble in having to return to the Council after the complaint in August 2023 following further missed collections.
26. I acknowledge the Council has already paid Mr X £100 during the complaints process. It now appears to have improved its collection rates, as confirmed by Mr X, and I am pleased it has done so.

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Agreed action

27. Within one month the Council should:
1. Apologise to Mr X for the fault identified.
2. Pay Mr X £50 to acknowledge the further distress caused to him.
3. Pay Mr X £50 to acknowledge the unnecessary time and trouble caused to him in having to raise further issues with the Council following his complaint.
28. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

29. I have found fault with the Council’s actions in failing to adhere to its duty to collect waste.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman