Summary: Mr B complained the Council has repeatedly left his bins blocking access to his driveway after collections, despite assuring him this would be resolved. The Council was at fault. It continued to leave Mr B’s bins blocking his driveway, after agreeing to leave them elsewhere. It also demonstrated poor record-keeping by not evidencing how and when it monitored his collections and carried out site visits. Because of the fault, Mr B could not safely access his driveway on several occasions; he suffered frustration and uncertainty; and it meant he continued to contact the Council to report the issue. The Council will issue a staff briefing and review its collection monitoring procedures.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains for roughly two years, the Council’s waste collection crews have been leaving his and sometimes his neighbour’s bins in front of his driveway after they have emptied them. He says he complained to the Council and the issue was resolved for two weeks before the bins started to block his driveway again.
2. As a result of the Council’s actions, Mr B says he regularly must get out of his vehicle in the middle of the road to move the bins so he can access his driveway.
3. Mr B would like the Council to put the bins on the grass verge by his house after it has emptied them.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
6. 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

7. I read Mr B’s complaint and spoke to him about it on the phone.
8. I considered evidence provided by Mr B and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
9. Mr B and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I have investigated

10. Mr B complains the issue his complaint is about has been ongoing for roughly two years. However, I have only investigated matters as far back as January 2024. This is because this is 12 months prior to when Mr B brought his complaint to us. Matters before this time are late, and there are no good reasons we should investigate matters before this date.

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What I found

Household waste and recycling collections

11. 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.

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What happened

12. This is a summary of events outlining key facts and it does not cover everything that has happened in this case.
13. Mr B says the Council has repeatedly left his bins blocking access to his driveway after it has emptied them.
14. In late April 2024, Mr B raised a complaint with the Council. He told it:
• the Council had left his bin blocking his driveway on 10 April 2024, which he had reported to the Council, and it had since happened again;
• he does not care where the collection crews leave his bins, providing they are not blocking access to his driveway; and
• he would like to speak with the Waste Operational Supervisor as the issue had been ongoing for some time.
15. The Council sent its complaint response to Mr B in mid-June 2024. It apologised and told Mr B the collection crews would be issued with written instructions to ensure the bins would not prevent access to his driveway. The Council also told Mr B it would monitor the collections. A few days later, the Waste Operational Supervisor left a memo for the collection crews asking them to ensure all bins are returned to the grass verge when emptied and not left blocking Mr B’s driveway.
16. In late August 2024, Mr B further complained to the Council after his and his neighbour’s bins had been left blocking his driveway again. The Council sent its complaint response to Mr B a week later. It apologised and repeated what it had told him in its previous complaint response. The Waste Operational Supervisor also left another memo for the collection crews asking them to ensure all bins are not left blocking Mr B’s driveway.
17. Mr B responded to the Council and told it he would like the matter to be escalated as the issue still had not been resolved.
18. In late September 2024, the Council sent its final complaint response to Mr B. It told him:
• It apologises for the collection crews repeatedly leaving the bins blocking access to his driveway.
• The Wast Operational Supervisor advised the collection crews concerned would be spoken to and given additional written instructions to ensure the bins would not be left on or blocking Mr B’s driveway.
• The Council would continue to monitor collections.

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Analysis

19. Mr B has made several reports to the Council about the collection crew leaving bins blocking access to his driveway. In response to my enquiries, the Council told us the collection service is a kerbside collection. This means the collection crews return the bins to the kerbside once the collection is completed. As such, I do not consider the Council was initially at fault for leaving the bins in front of Mr B’s driveway after collections.
20. But, after Mr B told the Council he was unhappy with where the bins were being left and it was preventing him from being able to safely access his driveway, the Council told us it agreed to return the bins to the grass verge once they had been emptied. As such, at this point the issue should have been resolved. Despite this, there were further reports made to the Council by Mr B about the bins blocking access to his driveway. So, the Council was later at fault after Mr B had made it aware he did not want the bins to be left in front of his driveway. The Council assured Mr B written instructions would be given to the collection crews to ensure the bins would not be left blocking access to his driveway, which I have seen evidence it did. It also assured Mr B it would continue to monitor collections. Despite this, the issue continued.
21. Mr B has not been able to safely access his driveway on several occasions due to the Council leaving the bins in front of it blocking access, after it agreed not to. He has also suffered frustration that the issue continued despite his reports and complaints, and uncertainty about whether the issue was going to continue. He has put time and trouble into pursuing the matter. This was an injustice.
22. Regarding the Council’s monitoring of the collections, I have not seen evidence to show how or if the Council did this. It told me the Waste Operational Supervisor also periodically checks the bins are returned to the agreed location by carrying out site visits, however it says this is not documented. So, I am unable to check if the Council did monitor the collections and carry out site visits as it says it did. This is poor record-keeping.
23. In response to my enquiries, the Council has acknowledged it needs to review its current processes regarding monitoring collections following complaints made by service users. I have made a service improvement recommendation below to reflect this. However, I have not recommended the Council monitor Mr B’s waste collections going forward, as the Council has told us it has not received further reports from him, besides one occasion in March 2025 where agency workers had been replaced by the usual collection crew due to staffing issues. As such, it has been indicated the issue has been resolved. I also have not recommended the Council apologise to Mr B, as it has already provided appropriate apologies.
24. The Ombudsman has published guidance to explain how we calculate remedies for people who have suffered injustice because of fault by a council. Our primary aim is to put people back in the position they would have been in if the fault by the council had not occurred.

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Action

25. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused to Mr B by the fault I have identified, the Council will take the following actions:
• Within four weeks of my final decision, issue a briefing to relevant staff members to remind them of where Mr B’s bins should be left after they have been emptied, and the importance of following written collection instructions.
• Within three months, the Council will send us evidence to show it has begun the process of reviewing its collections monitoring procedures. The review should include record-keeping and detail how the Council will keep record of collections monitoring and site visits going forward, so that it can evidence these actions in future if needed. Once the review is complete, the Council will send us evidence of this.
26. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

27. I uphold Mr B’s complaint and find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman