Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council overcharging him for depositing his household waste at its recycling centre. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and we could not add anything more to the Council’s investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council overcharged him when he took his household waste to its recycling centre. He said it caused him frustration. He wants the Council to acknowledge it wrongly charged him, refund him the difference in what he paid and be transparent on how it calculates charges.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council allows residents to take up to 60kg of waste to the recycling centre at no charge. It will charge for any additional weight above this amount.
6. In March 2025, Mr X took his household waste to the recycling centre. Mr X said he entered the recycling centre with a total weight of 2240kg which included the weight of his car and left with the remaining weight of 2160kg. Therefore, Mr X said the total amount of waste he took to the recycling centre was 80kg.
7. Following this, the Council issued Mr X an invoice which charged him for 80kg of waste. Mr X complained to the Council as he said it should have charged him for an additional 20kg of waste and not 80kg of waste.
8. The Council investigated Mr X’s complaint and responded to him. It said it had weighed his waste correctly and so had not overcharged him. It said Mr X’s bags may have weighed differently to what he thought they weighed. The Council told Mr X it had spoken to the supplier of the weighing system to see if it could provide more details on weighing waste in the future.
9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and it would be impossible for us to establish the weight of Mr X’s household waste. We could also not add anything more to the Council’s response.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault and we could not add anything more to the Council’s investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman