Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to provide an adequate recycling refuse collection, served her with a fixed penalty notice for fly tipping rubbish and did not respond to her missed bin complaints. The Council was at fault when it sent a letter regarding the waste offence to the incorrect address which meant Miss X missed the opportunity to present her case. The Council also failed to explain how residents of flats can report problems with refuse collection. The Council will apologise and pay Miss X £200 to acknowledge the uncertainty, frustration and distress this caused. The Council will also update its website to clearly explain how residents living in flats can report missed bin collections.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council failed to provide an adequate recycling refuse collection, which she said was an ongoing issue. Miss X also complained the Council then served her with a fixed penalty notice (FPN) for fly tipping rubbish. Miss X said she was not provided with an opportunity to discuss the FPN with the Council and the Council did not provide her with evidence of the fly tipping. Miss X said this caused her a financial burden and distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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

4. I have considered:
• the information Miss X provided and discussed the complaint with her on the telephone;
• the Council's comments about the complaint and the supporting documents it provided; and
• the Council's policies, relevant law and guidance and the Ombudsman's guidance on remedies.
5. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered their comments before making the final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

Fixed penalty notices

6. A fixed penalty notice (FPN) notifies the recipient they have committed a criminal offence, but that they may discharge liability – and therefore avoid prosecution for the offence – by paying a fine within a specified period. If they do not pay, they may be prosecuted, which can lead to a greatly increased fine, a criminal record, and for some offences potential imprisonment.
7. There is no formal right of appeal against an FPN, although it is good practice for councils to consider any representations a person makes, before deciding to prosecute them. If a person wishes to dispute the offence, they may wait to be prosecuted for it and raise their arguments in court.

Environmental Protection Act 1990

8. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (the Act) to collect household waste and recycling from properties in their area. Collections do not need to be weekly, and councils can decide which receptacles people must use.
9. Section 87 of the Act says that a person is guilty of an offence if they throw down, drop or otherwise deposit any litter in any place to which this section applies and leaves it. This section applies to any place in the area of a principal litter authority which is open to the air.

Council’s website

10. The Councils website states:
• residents that live in a block of flats with communal bins, can put their waste or recycling into the bins at any time; and
• residents who live in flats or estates cannot report missed bins at this time but functionality will return soon.

What happened

11. Miss X lives in a block of flats. Miss X said when she moved into her flat there were no communal recycling bins for her block of flat’s because they had been stolen and had not been replaced. She said her flat management company had an arrangement for the residents to use the next-door flat’s recycling bins. Miss X said the communal bins were overflowing and she put one cardboard box next to the recycling bin for collection by the Council.
12. In early September 2024 the Council said it found multiple cardboard boxes with Miss X’s name and address on them in the street. Two days later the Council sent Miss X a letter explaining it was investigating a waste offence. It attached a photograph showing evidence containing Miss X’s name and address amongst the waste. The Council provided Miss X with the opportunity to answer questions about the suspected waste offence and invited her written comments under caution. She had seven days to respond. The letter explained if Miss X did not respond it may issue a fixed penalty notice (FPN) requiring her to pay up to £400. Miss X said she did not receive this letter. In response to my enquiries the Council said there was a typing error with Miss X’s address. The Council said the letter was not sent to Miss X by email and it did not send her any further letters before issuing a FPN.
13. In late September 2024 the Council sent Miss X a FPN for £400 for the fly tipping offence. Again, the address on the FPN was incorrect but Miss X did receive it. The FPN said if she did not pay within 14 days she may be summoned to appear at the magistrate’s court. It gave Miss X options of how she could pay the fine.
14. Miss X said she panicked when she received the FPN and paid the £400 fine in mid-October 2024 because she did not want to be taken to court.
15. Two days later Miss X contacted the Council to request more information about the FPN and for the Council’s evidence. Miss X did not receive a response from the Council and four days later she made an official complaint to the Council. She said her recycling was not collected on a weekly basis as it should be, the recycling bins were full and she could not dispose of her recycling rubbish properly. She said it meant she once left ‘a couple of boxes next to the recycling bins’ and had been fined £400 by the Council. She said the Council had not sent her notice of the fine or its evidence and her first notice of this was the FPN through the post which she paid because she was scared.
16. The Council responded to Miss X’s stage 1 complaint and did not uphold her complaint. It said:
• the waste collection team was not aware of any collection concerns from Miss X’s address but notes would be added to the collection sheets and it would monitor the next few collections;
• Miss X’s block of flats was not a council maintained building and any additional bins would need to be paid for. It suggested Miss X contact her management company about this; and
• it apologised for the distress the FPN caused Miss X but said waste with her name and address was found on the public highway in early September 2024 and a letter under caution was sent to her two days later but no response was received. It said it issued a FPN in late September 2024 and payment was made in mid-October 2024.
17. Miss X remained unhappy and complained to us. Miss X continued to complain about the continued missed recycling bin collections and she emailed the Council with no response.
18. The Councils website states residents who live in flats or estates with communal bins ‘cannot report missed bin collections at this time but functionality will return soon’.

Enquiries

19. In response to my enquiries the Council said:
• if Miss X considered her bin allocation was not sufficient she should contact her management agent;
• waste collections were still being made to Miss X’s address. It was the management agent’s responsibility to report or request additional bins and there were no reports of stolen bins;
• the Council refuse team said an arrangement had not been made for Miss X and her neighbours to use another flat’s communal recycling bins;
• it had not received any subsequent complaints from Miss X about missed bin collections on its system; and
• the collection schedule for some flats had not been uploaded onto a new system and those residents could not use the Council’s online tool to report missed bins. It said they would have to call the contact centre to report missed bin collections but because it is a non-Council managed block of flats Miss X should have gone directly to her management agent who could contact the Council’s refuse department.

My findings

Fixed Penalty Notice

20. The Council initially used the correct process when it found Miss X’s waste on the public highway that was not in an authorised recycling bin. The enforcement officer collected photographic evidence and sent Miss X a letter under caution asking if it was her waste and how she disposed of it. The Council did not receive a response from Miss X because it sent the letter to the incorrect address. This meant Miss X did not have the opportunity to respond to the Council. This was fault. I cannot say for certain Miss X would have responded to the letter or that this would have made any difference but the lack of opportunity for her to respond caused her frustration and uncertainty. The Council then issued Miss X with a FPN again it was sent to the wrong address but Miss X did receive it. This caused Miss X distress because it was the first correspondence she had seen from the Council.

Missed Recycling bin collections

21. Miss X said the reason she put her recycling next to the recycling bins was because they were overflowing. She said this happened because her block of flats bins had been stolen and she was using another flat’s bins. The Council said there was not an agreement for Miss X’s block of flats to use these Council owned bins. However, Miss X should report the stolen bins to her management company for it to provide suitable bin storage, this is not the fault of the Council.
22. Miss X said the recycling bins are still overflowing and she has continued to contact the Council about missed collections with no response. The Council said it had not received Miss X’s complaints since November 2024. The Council’s website does not explain how residents of flats should report missed bin collections. This is fault and caused Miss X uncertainty.

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Action

23. Within one month of the final decision the Council will:
1. apologise and pay Miss X £200 for the frustration, uncertainty and distress caused by the misspelt address in the letters regarding the waste offence meaning Miss X was not initially given the chance to respond;
2. if not already done so, correct Miss X’s address on the Council’s system for future reference; and
3. update its website to ensure it clearly explains how residents living in flats are expected to report missed bin collections.
24. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

25. I have completed my investigation finding fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy the injustice caused and prevent recurrence of the faults.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman