Bristol City Council (24 016 677)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Upheld
Decision date : 13 Mar 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We have decided not to investigate Mr X’s complaint about missed bin collections. The Council has upheld the complaint and agreed to remedy their injustice by taking appropriate action.
The complaint
- Mr X complained his bins were not collected regularly since April 2024.
- Mr X complained the Council said they were not collected because of the location of his property.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained the Council missed his fortnightly general waste bin collection regularly since April 2024.The Council said the bins were not collected due to the location of his property.
- If we investigated this complaint, it is likely we would find the Council at fault because the Council has missed a significant number of collections. This caused Mr X frustration and uncertainty. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying this by taking the action set out below.
Agreed Action
- Within 1 month of this decision
- Write to Mr X and apologise for the frustration and uncertainty caused by the missed collections. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
- The Council will monitor the next four collections and report back to the Ombudsman within 1 month of the end of the monitoring period.
Final decision
- We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman