Summary: Mr X complained that the Council regularly failed to collect his household recycling despite him repeatedly reporting issues. We found service failure by the Council in relation to missed recycling collections over several months. We also found the Council’s complaint handling was poor. In recognition of the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and make a payment to him.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council has routinely failed to collect his household recycling for over a year despite him repeatedly reporting issues. He says this has caused frustration and inconvenience and the buildup of waste is attracting vermin.

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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. The Ombudsman’s view, based on caselaw, is that ‘service failure’ is an objective, factual question about what happened. A finding of service failure does not imply blame, intent or bad faith on the part of the council involved. There may be circumstances where we conclude service failure has occurred and caused an injustice to the complainant despite the best efforts of the council. This still amounts to fault. We may recommend a remedy for the injustice caused and/or that the council makes service improvements. (R (on the application of ER) v CLA (LGO) [2014] EWCA civ 1407)
4. 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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What I have and have not investigated

5. I have investigated Mr X’s complaint about missed recycling collections between December 2022 and November 2023.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered all the information provided by Mr X, made enquiries of the Council and considered its comments in the documents it provided.
7. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legal and administrative background

8. 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.
9. The Council’s main method of refuse collection is a weekly collection. It collects general waste and recycling on the same day every week.
10. The Council’s policy is that it will aim to collect refuse and recycling on the scheduled day. If this is not possible it will be collected within 24 hours provided the vehicle can gain access. Otherwise, it will be collected the following week.

Key facts

11. Mr X lives in a private cul-de-sac which is accessed via a gated road. He reported frequent missed recycling collections between December 2022 and November 2023. The Council has provided a spreadsheet showing he reported 25 missed collections during this period. It has recorded that, on 15 occasions, the collection was completed within 24-hours. It also recorded that: the collection was not completed on six occasions because of no access; on two occasions there were other reasons why the collection was not completed; and on three occasions no reason was given for failing to complete the collection.
12. Mr X complained to the Council on 20 June 2023. The Council responded on 19 July 2023 and explained that it had experienced a series of issues preventing access to Mr X’s Road. It said there had recently been roadworks nearby and there had been cars parked on the estate stopping the crew from reversing round the corners. It also explained that there had been issues with one of the residents threatening the crew. The Council said it had been working on these issues and everything had now been resolved.
13. Mr X responded the same day saying the issues had not been resolved.
14. Mr X reported further missed collections and, on 25 August, he complained that the environmental manager (EM) had not responded to his complaints and had closed his complaints without resolution.
15. The EM met with Mr X to discuss his concerns on 20 September 2023. He wrote to Mr X the same day confirming that the Council had experienced a number of issues including: access problems with gates that were broken and fire keys that did not work; parked cars on the corners preventing vehicles from turning; and a resident being verbally and physically abusive to crews. He said these issues had now been resolved. However, the Council was now experiencing strike action from members of staff which was also affecting collections.
16. Mr X complained to us on 31 October 2023. He said he had had one recycling collection in the last five months.

Analysis

Missed collections

17. The Council accepts there have been multiple missed collections it says there were several reasons for this:
• The original reason for the non-collections was because a resident made frequent allegations that the recycling crew were damaging his vehicle and verbally abuse the crew and assaulted one of them. He deliberately parked his vehicle to prevent the recycling vehicle accessing the cul-de-sac. Because of his behaviour the recycling crew refused to collect the waste.
• The gates to access Mr X’s Road were not working for some time, even with the fire key. The general waste crew had a fob key, but the recycling team did not. The crew had been asking the landlord for a new key but were unable to obtain one. The only way to access the properties was for the crew to wait for a vehicle to come out but waiting outside was difficult because of parked vehicles. The Council says the gates have been broken and fully open “for months” which has allowed the crew to gain access. It says the crew has again requested a new key and are waiting to receive this.
• There has been a problem with parked cars on the corners of the estate preventing the recycling vehicle from turning round the corners. It says the EM visited the site in August and September 2023 and spoke to the estate manager who advised that vehicles blocking the corners were friends of one of the residents and did not live on the estate. The resident had been letting them into the estate so they could park. This issue has now been resolved by the estate manager.
• More recently, the crew missed collections because of strike action. There is a national driver shortage and so replacements could not be found. As a result, the crew were understaffed for several weeks impacting all waste collection services.
18. The Council says the EM monitored the collection for six weeks and attended regularly with the recycling crew to try to resolve the issues and spoke to the estate manager on several occasions. It says it expected the estate manager to ensure crew members had access to the bins on collection days by providing a fob key and resolving the issue of unauthorised parking blocking access but this took some time to resolve. It also says it attempted collections on different days in an attempt to resolve the problem.
19. The Council says the EM visited residents on the estate several times to explain the reasons for the missed collections. He also provided his direct mobile number to a resident to allow them to report missed collections and raise any issues.
20. I find the Council failed to collect Mr X’s recycling on the scheduled collection day or within 24 hours on many occasions between December 2022 and November 2023. I accept there have been difficulties for the crew in gaining access to collect the recycling. However, this is service failure. This poor service has caused Mr X frustration and he has been put to time and trouble in repeatedly reporting missed collections and in complaining to the Council and the Ombudsman.

The Council’s response to Mr X’s complaint.

21. Mr X made a stage 1 complaint on 20 June 2023. The Council responded on 19 July 2023. The Council’s policy is that it will respond to a stage 1 complaint within 20 working days and it complied with this.
22. Mr X responded to the stage 1 response the same day saying the issues had not been resolved. The Council should have treated this as a stage 2 complaint. However, it did not respond.
23. Mr X complained again on 25 August saying that the EM had not responded to his complaints and had closed complaints without resolution. The EM responded to this complaint at stage 1 of the Council’s complaints process. As this was clearly a complaint about the EM’s handling of Mr X’s complaints, the Council should have reviewed the complaint at stage 2 of its complaints process. Failure to do so was fault.
24. The Council did not issue a stage 2 response until 6 November 2023 after contact from the Ombudsman. This was fault and caused Mr X uncertainty and put him to the inconvenience of complaining to us.

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Agreed action

25. The Council has agreed that, within one month, it will:
• write to Mr X apologising for the missed collections and the poor complaint handling; and
• pay Mr X £150 in recognition of the frustration and inconvenience caused by the missed collections over a number of months and his time reporting these together with the uncertainty and inconvenience caused by the poor complaint handling.
26. The Council has also agreed to monitor Mr X’s recycling collections for the next three months, keep records of this monitoring and provide the Ombudsman with the records at the end of the period.
27. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

28. I find fault by the Council in relation to the missed recycling collections and because of its poor complaint handling.
29. I have completed my investigation on the basis that the Council has agreed to implement the recommended remedy.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman