Summary: Miss X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to return her own and her neighbour’s bins correctly once they are empty. Miss X says her neighbour’s bin is regularly left at the end of her path so she is unable to leave her property without moving the bin. We found the repeated failure to return Miss X’s neighbour’s bins properly so they did not obstruct her access is fault. This fault has caused Miss X unnecessary difficulties, distress and frustration. The Council will apologise and make a payment to Miss X.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to return her own and her neighbour’s bins correctly once they are empty. Miss X says her neighbour’s bin is regularly left at the end of her path so she is unable to leave her property without moving the bin. This is physically difficult for Miss X who receives assisted collections for her own bins.
2. Miss X also complains about the way her calls were dealt with when she reported problems to the Council. She says the advisors she spoke to did not deal with her concerns professionally or appropriately.

Back to top

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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

7. 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.
8. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
9. The Council provides an assisted collection service for people who are unable to move their bins and boxes due to a disability or age. The Council should collect the bins from the storage point and return them to the same point.
10. In January 2025 collection crews began industrial action. This began with specific strike days each week when waste would not be collected. Then from 11 March 2025 it became an all-out strike. The Council declared a major incident on 31 March 2025 to address the impact of the industrial action.

What happened here

11. Miss X receives assisted collections. Her bins are collected, emptied and returned to a designated point so that Miss X does not have to move them herself. Miss X complains the collection crew regularly left her neighbour’s empty bin at the end of the steps to her property rather than in front of her neighbour’s property.
12. Miss X made a formal complaint in early July 2024 and then contacted the Council the following week to report her neighbour’s bin had again been left blocking her steps. Miss X also complained that her recycling had not been collected.
13. The Council responded on 25 July 2024 and apologised for the poor service Miss X had received. The Council said it had escalated her concerns and had made the service manager aware of the issues. The crews had been given additional reminders to ensure collections were made in line with policy and procedure.
14. The following day Miss X told the Council her neighbour’s household waste and recycling bins had been left at the bottom of her steps. She asked for her complaint to be escalated to stage 2 of the Council’s complaint process. Miss X then contacted the Council a fortnight later as her neighbour’s empty bin was again blocking her steps. She told the Council this was causing her unnecessary stress and palpitations.
15. The Council wrote to Miss X on 22 August 2025 with its stage 2 investigation response. It apologised the matter remained unresolved and again said the manager was aware and had issued reminders not to block her access.
16. The service improved for a few weeks but on 20 September 2024 Miss X complained the collection crew had left her neighbour’s bin blocking her steps. The Council agreed to set up formal monitoring and investigate why the crews were not following instructions.
17. The monitoring took place between 27 September and 15 November 2024. An officer contacted Miss X each week to confirm the bins were returned correctly. The Council’s records show that save for 27 September 2024, the bins were correctly returned after each collection.
18. Miss X says the service had improved but has asked us to investigate her concerns as the matter took too long to resolve and caused her significant distress.
19. In response to my enquiries the Council says Miss X’s neighbour does not receive assisted collections so the collection crews do not return their bins to a designated point. It says the crews will try to put the bin back where it was collected from, but this is not always possible. The Council says crews may accidentally place the neighbour’s bin slightly in front of Miss X’s steps but this is not a malicious act. As Miss X lives in a semi-detached property and as the steps for her own and her neighbour’s property are cojoined there is a higher risk of crews accidentally partly blocking Miss X’s steps.
20. To ensure Miss X’s bins are returned properly the Council says that prior to the industrial action an officer from the complaints team would regularly check in with Miss X. It also carried out formal monitoring with the crew taking photographs of where the bins were left, and managers from the depot spoke to both the crew and Miss X.
21. Miss X also made a separate complaint in July 2024 about the way her calls were handled by the contact centre advisors. The Council investigated and confirmed the calls were not handled professionally or appropriately by its advisors. It apologised and explained the advisors’ manager would speak to them and their calls would be monitored and additional coaching or re-training provided if necessary. Miss X was not satisfied with the Council’s response.
22. The recordings of these calls are no longer available.

Analysis

23. It is clear from the documentation that there have been issues with the waste collection service Miss X received which amount to fault.
24. The Council provides Miss X with assisted collections on the basis she is unable to move her own bins. If she is not expected to move her own bins, it would be illogical to expect her to have to move her neighbour’s bins to be able to leave her property. While the Council may not be required to collect and return her neighbour’s bins to a designated point, it is clear they should not be left blocking Miss X’s access.
25. Miss X repeatedly reported this issue to the Council between July and September 2024. During this time the Council investigated Miss X’s concerns at both stages of its complaint process, but this did not resolve the problem.
26. The Council has since monitored Miss X’s collections and taken action to ensure the collection crews do not leave any bins blocking her steps. This is to be welcomed, but Miss X believes it took too long.
27. Miss X has made a number of complaints to the Council about differing issues with her waste collections in recent years. She has received many copies of similar complaint response letters without seeing any or only short term improvements in service. This further failing in the waste collection service caused Miss X unnecessary difficulties, distress and frustration, which was exacerbated by her previous experiences.
28. The Council has also acknowledged that some of her calls were not handled professionally or appropriately by its advisors. It apologised and explained the action it has taken to improve this service. This is an appropriate response.

Back to top

Action

29. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and pay her £100 in recognition of the frustration and difficulties the repeated failure to return her neighbour’s bins properly so they did not obstruct her access has caused.
30. The Council should take this action within eight weeks of the final decision and provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

31. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman