Summary: Miss X says the Council has repeatedly failed to collect or replace her bin in line with the assisted collection she has agreed. Miss X says this has caused her distress and she has had to pay to remove waste resulting from the missed collections. We have found fault in the actions of the Council for the missed collections. We recommend a payment to recognise the distress caused and for the Council to take steps to ensure collections are completed.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council has repeatedly failed to collect or replace her bin in line with the assisted collection she has agreed.
2. Miss X says this has caused her distress and she has had to pay to remove waste resulting from 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. 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

5. I have considered the information provided by Miss X and have discussed the complaint with her.
6. Both Miss X and the Council have had the chance to comment on my draft decision. All comments provided have been considered before a final decision was issued.

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What I found

7. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in their area. The collections do not have to be weekly, and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
8. The Council provides an assisted bin collection service for residents who are frail, elderly, disabled or incapacitated where there are no able-bodied residents to move their bins to the roadside.

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What happened

9. Miss X has assisted collections for the bins at her property. The Council has agreed to collect and return the bins to the location they are stored.
10. Miss X reported multiple missed collections to the Council and raised a complaint in September 2023. The Council responded on 4 October 2023 and accepted there were collection issues. The Council said it had put Miss X’s address on the crew’s tasks sheets to ensure they collected her bins.
11. Miss X raised a further complaint in November 2023 as the Council did not collect her brown bin and her black bin was only partially emptied.
12. The Council issued a response to the complaint on 7 December 2023 which said it was disappointed to learn it had missed collections. It said it had spoken to the crew again about the assisted wheel out and returning of the bin. The Council also said as an extra measure the collections team leader had asked the driver to call them directly to confirm Miss X’s bin was collected and returned.
13. Miss X says following this the collection rate and returning of the bins improved but she still has problems. She says the Council either do not collect the bins at all or they are collected but then not returned. Miss X says when the Council miss a collection they do not return until the next scheduled collection meaning she has a build-up of rubbish or must pay someone to take her rubbish away.

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Analysis

14. The Council has accepted it has missed collections and that it does not always return Miss X’s bins to the correct place as agreed. This is fault and has caused Miss X distress and inconvenience.
15. The Council has tried to resolve the issues with collections which has improved the situation. However, unfortunately, Miss X has had to report further instances of the Council missing collections or not returning bins to the correct place.
16. Miss X is caused upset and distress when her bins are not collected or returned to the correct place. She says her neighbours feel she is being ‘lazy’ and have called her names for the bins not being returned. This cases Miss X additional distress.
17. Miss X is also caused inconvenience by the Council not returning to empty her bins as she has had to pay another person to come and do so.

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Agreed action

18. Within one month of a final decision the Council should:

• Write to Miss X to apologise for the faults identified.
• Put in place monitoring of the collection rate and returning of Miss X’s bins to the correct place for the next six months and ensure any missed collections are returned to.
• Pay Miss X £200 in recognition of the distress caused to her.

19. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

20. I have found fault in the actions of the Council for missed collections and not returning bins to the agreed place.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman