Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to collect refuse from Mr X’s driveway. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify the Ombudsman’s involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council decided it would not collect his refuse from his driveway.
2. He said the Council’s decision was extremely inconvenient and he wants it to admit it has been unreasonable, refund six months of rates relating to refuse collection and start to collect the refuse from his drive.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. 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.

(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 and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X asked the Council to collect his refuse from his driveway. In its response the Council said it undertook a risk assessment of the vehicle used.
8. It said the vehicle must be able to complete a three point turn safely and it could not use his private driveway to turn. It said Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines state it must avoid reversing where possible, and the recommended maximum distance to reverse was 12 meters. The road to Mr X’s driveway is 100 meters.
9. Council Supervisors attended Mr X’s property to assess if his request was possible and they were not satisfied the vehicle could safely turn. The Council told Mr X where it could collect his refuse from.
10. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council undertook a risk assessment and visit to Mr X’s property to assess if a driveway collection could be safely completed. It made its decision based on its policy, HSE guidance and set out its reasons to Mr X. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify the Ombudsman’s involvement.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify the Ombudsman’s involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman