Summary: Mr X complained that the Council has routinely failed to collect his general waste bin for a period of over two years. We found the Council was at fault. In recognition of the injustice caused, it 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 general waste bin for a period of over two years. He says it has missed almost half of the general waste bin collections for his road during that time. He also says monitoring put in place in April 2022 failed to resolve the problem which is continuing.
2. Mr X says the Council’s failure to collect the bins results in overflowing bins, rubbish dumped on the street and the roads strewn with litter. He also has concerns about rodents caused by the accumulated rubbish. Mr X says he has been put to a great deal of time and trouble in reporting each incident and in complaining to the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
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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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered all the information provided by Mr X, made enquiries of the Council and considered its comments and the documents it provided.
6. 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

Refuse and recycling collections

7. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in its area. The collections do not have to be weekly and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
8. The Council’s main method of refuse collection is an alternate weekly collection where residents receive two general waste collections and two recycling collections in a four week period. It aims to ensure all bins are collected on the scheduled day. It commits to providing waste collections on specific days, not at specific times of day.
9. The Council’s policy states that, where an individual bin has not been collected, it will collect the bin at the next scheduled collection. Where there are missed collections for a group of properties, it will aim to recover the bins within two working days. When this is not possible, residents should re-present their waste on the next collection day.
10. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Council aimed to return to recover missed collections within its two working day timescale. However this was not always possible because of additional pressures on the service at this time.

Key facts

11. Mr X lives in a street of terraced housing with no off-street parking. It is a densely populated area with many houses in multiple occupation. The bins are collected from a narrow street at the rear of the properties.
12. The Council says that, between August 2020 and October 2021, Mr X reported missed bin collections 29 times via its online form. In October 2021 he made a stage 1 complaint. He said the general waste bins for his road were missed regularly and he had reported this a number of times but nothing was ever done about it.
13. The Waste Management team leader spoke to Mr X and provided his mobile telephone number so Mr X could contact him directly when the bins were missed. Mr X says, although the problem continued, he was able to telephone the team leader to arrange for a collection rather than having to report the issue online. However, the team leader eventually moved teams. Mr X says he was told he would receive a call from the officer taking over the role, but this never happened.
14. In February 2022 Mr X told the Council he wanted to continue with his complaint because his bin collections were still being missed. The Council treated this as a new stage 1 complaint. The Waste Management service responded apologising for the missed collections. It explained access to the bins could sometimes be problematic if there were obstructions in the narrow street. It said the service tried to recover the missed waste on scheduled days but, because of the pressure on resources, this had not always been possible recently. It said the team leader was actively monitoring collections and the last three weeks’ collections had been completed on scheduled days. But, it accepted the recycling waste collection was not collected the previous day.
15. Mr X escalated his complaint to stage 2. The Council responded explaining periodic monitoring had taken place over the previous few weeks which showed successful collections had been made on 28 March, 4 April, 11 April and 25 April 2022. However, it accepted the collection failed on 18 April 2022.
16. Mr X was dissatisfied with the Council’s response and complained to the Ombudsman. He said that, because of the large number of houses in multiple occupation in the area, missed collections result in overflowing bins and waste dumped on the street. He said he had no way of contacting the waste team about missed bins apart from an online form which resulted in no action. Mr X said that over the previous two years he had:
• completed a missed bin form online at least 33 times;
• sent an email or message to his local councillor at least 15 times;
• made many phone calls to the Council to report missed bins; and
• made two formal complaints about the issue.
17. On 25 October 2022 the team leader held a supervisory meeting with staff to ensure they made collections.

Analysis

18. It is clear from the documentation available that there have been issues with Mr X’s bin collections which would amount to fault.
19. Although the Council’s main method of refuse collection is an alternate weekly collection, the street from which Mr X’s bins are collected receives a weekly general waste collection and four weekly recycling collection. So, he and his neighbours receive an additional waste collection every four weeks.
20. The Council accepts there have been multiple missed collections and says this is because of parked cars obstructing access to the street. It says parked cars are a particular problem at this location making it difficult for crews to access the street to make the collection. It says that, when resources allow, it makes recoveries in this area with a smaller vehicle. However, it has a limited number of smaller refuse vehicles because they have a smaller load capacity and so are not as efficient. The Council says this level of support is specific to this area of the city to enable the service to return for missed collections within its two working day timescale. However, if cars are still preventing access when the recovery vehicle returns, crews are unable to complete the recovery until access is clear.
21. The Council says the refuse collection crew have been instructed to report access difficulties which prevent collections taking place so recovery collections can be put in place and accurate records kept.
22. The Council disputes Mr X’s claim that almost half of his general waste collections have been missed since August 2020. It says that, although Mr X has made numerous reports of missed collections since August 2020, it has only received four such reports from other residents (on 7 May 2021, 1 July 2021, 10 November 2021 and 30 August 2022.)
23. The Council does not have written records for every recovery collection which took place. The evidence is that the missed bins were sometimes collected within two working days of the scheduled collection day which is in accordance with its policy. However, it has not always complied with this. The Council has explained that it is not always possible to meet this target because, when a recovery collection is attempted, it will be unsuccessful if parked vehicles continue to obstruct its vehicles from accessing the street. It says most of the recoveries were made within its two working day recovery window. However, it accepts it has not been able to provide evidence of this.
24. The Council says periodic monitoring has been put in place and a team leader or manager has visited the site to ensure the collection has taken place successfully. It says this is carried out on an ad hoc basis dependent on officer availability and written records are not kept. The Council says it also monitors by adding reminders to the crew task sheet. The crew chargehand will confirm if the crew has successfully collected the waste and, if not, will report a missed collection and the reason for this. The chargehand is responsible for ensuring the collection is completed and/or reporting any issues so a recovery collection can be arranged where appropriate. Mr X says monitoring has done nothing to improve the situation.
25. I accept there are frequent difficulties for the crew in accessing the road to collect the bins. However I find, on the evidence available, that the Council has failed to collect Mr X’s bins on the scheduled collection day or within the following two working days on many occasions since August 2020. While this may have been because of its inability to access the street due to parked vehicles, this is service failure. The Council has carried out monitoring, however this does not appear to have resolved the problem. 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.
26. The Council has agreed to continue monitoring on an ad hoc basis when resources allow and via the crew task sheet. It says the importance of the crew reporting access difficulties is reiterated to staff in the appraisal process and during training. It has also agreed to write to residents explaining the issues parking can cause for refuse collections and requesting that they do not park inconsiderately.
27. The Council has also offered to write to Mr X apologising for the missed collections and advising him of the measures it is putting in place to improve the situation in future.
28. I am satisfied the Council’s proposed actions go some way to remedying the injustice caused to Mr X. However, I made some additional recommendations.

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Agreed action

29. The Council has agreed that, within one month, it will:
• write to Mr X apologising for the missed collections and advising him of the measures it is putting in place to improve the situation in future;
• pay Mr X £150 for his frustration and inconvenience;
• issue a reminder to the crew of the importance of reporting access difficulties; and
• write to residents explaining the issues parking can cause for refuse collections and requesting that they do not park inconsiderately.

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Final decision

30. I uphold Mr X’s complaint.
31. I have completed my investigation on the basis that the Council has agreed to implement the recommended remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman