Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council’s waste collection service damaged her bin. This is because an investigation is unlikely to achieve any worthwhile outcome, and Mrs X’s claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council’s household waste service damaged her bin during a collection. Mrs X also said the Council failed to respond to her complaint.
2. Mrs X says the matter caused her frustration.
3. Mrs X wants the Council to repair or replace her waste bin.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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 injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council damaged her bin. Mrs X said the Council told her its crew did not report any damage during the collection. Mrs X disputes this and says she and her partner witnessed the damage.
8. An investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to be able to establish, even on a balance of probabilities, that the Council damaged Mrs X’s bin. Therefore, there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by an investigation, and so we will not investigate.
9. In addition, Mrs X’s claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation. The cost of a replacement bin is £45, with possible concessions for those on certain benefits. Therefore, any alleged injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation, and we will not investigate this complaint.
10. Mrs X also complained the Council did not respond to her complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. Therefore, we will not investigate this matter further.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to achieve any worthwhile outcome, and Mrs X’s claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman