The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mr B complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect his garden waste bin, a service that he paid for. He says the Council has given mixed responses about where he needs to leave the bin. The Ombudsman finds fault for the delay in responding to Mr B’s complaint and for not providing clarity about where to leave his bin.
The complaint
The complainant, who I refer to as Mr B, complains the Council did not collect his garden waste bin over a period of seven months. Mr B says he repeatedly told the Council about missed collections, but it did not resolve the problem or issue a refund. Mr B says a refuse collector has now told him he needs to leave the bin in the public car park that his house fronts onto. Mr B says the refuse collectors collect his regular bins from the front of his property and does not understand why they would not do the same for the garden waste. He says there is no where to leave the bin in the car park and if he leaves in on the path it will get in other peoples’ way.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered the information Mr B and the Council provided and spoke to Mr B about the complaint. I sent a copy of my draft decision to Mr B and the Council for their comments before making a final decision.
Background
The Council offers a garden waste service for £55 a year. The subscription period runs from 1 April to 31 March each year. The Council has its terms and conditions for the service and an FAQ on its website.
Mr B’s house has a front garden, which on google street view looks about two to three metres in length. Outside the front of his garden is a footpath. In front of the footpath is a small car park for residents.
In September 2021, Mr B signed up for the Council’s garden waste service. In late October 2021, he contacted the Council to say no collections had taken place. He said the same in early November 2021 and asked for a refund if no collections were to be made. The Council responded to say its live data showed collections had taken place on his road. The last collection for his home was reported as ‘not presented’. The Council asked Mr B to place his bin out before 6am. Mr B said the bin was out before the refuse collectors came, but from that point on he left it out overnight.
A week after the Council’s response Mr B again reported a missed collection. The Council said it would pass his complaint to its director of operations. Mr B reported another missed collection in early December 2021. He asked for a refund. 10 days later Mr B had not received a complaint response so again for a refund. The Council said its stage two complaint response was due in the next two days. The following day Mr B reported another missed collection.
Mr B had not received a complaint response by end of December 2021 so sent another email of complaint. The Council apologised for the delay and said it would chase the response.
In early January 2022 Mr B complained again. The Council again apologised for the delay and provided Mr B with the contact details for the Ombudsman. Mr B made a complaint to the Ombudsman.
The Council provided a stage two response in early April 2022. It said the system showed several reports from the crew that Mr B’s bin was not presented for collection. It said a manager visited Mr B’s property in April 2022 to investigate and found the bin was not presented. It said Mr B needed to leave the bin at the end of his footpath, where it meets the public footpath. The Council said that as it had taken so long to resolve it would offer a refund from the date of the last collection. It said it had now introduced an in-cab system that records any missed bin collections, so such a situation would not happen in future. If Mr B wanted to reinstate the service, he would need to register again online.
Mr B says that between September 2021 and April 2022 his garden waste was only collected once. He says he has not received the Council’s response from April 2022. In May 2022 he managed to speak to one of the refuse collectors. Mr B says the refuse collector told him he needed to place the bin in the car park at the front of his property.
Mr B says his rubbish bin and recycling bin are collected from the front of his house. He says he left the garden waste in the same place and does not understand why the Council would not have collected it from the same place. He says there is nowhere to leave the bin in the car park without getting in the way of cars. He also does not wish to leave it on the footpath as it could get in the way of other people.
Mr B says he would like to continue with the service if he can be assured the Council will collect the bins in future.
Findings
It is clear there has been confusion about the exact spot Mr B needs to place the bin in order for it to be collected. I have looked at the terms and conditions and FAQ for the garden waste service on the Council’s website. Neither state specifically where residents must place the bin for collection.
It is normal in any area that bins should be left at the front of the property in order to be collected. However, it sometimes varies as to whether people leave bins just within the boundary of their property or on the public footpath. In Mr B’s case it is a matter of two to three metres from the boundary of his front garden to his front door. The boundary is marked by an ankle high fence, so it is easy for anyone to see into the front garden. I can therefore understand why he believed that leaving the bin anywhere in that front garden, was leaving it out for collection, particularly when his regular bins are consistently collected from the same spot. However, the refuse crew may not have considered Mr B had ‘presented’ his bin for collection, if it was not obviously placed by the border of the garden and the footpath.
It is also possible there is a slight difference in what the crew consider is ‘presented’ as a pose to the service managers. I agree with Mr B that it would not make sense for him to leave it in the car park, if that means within one of the parking bays. It might be the refuse collector meant on the footpath next to the car park. Whereas the service manager is saying on the border of Mr B’s property and the footpath. Either way it is splitting hairs and it would likely make little difference if Mr B left the bin at the end of his footpath, just on his side of the ankle high fence, to avoid any inconvenience to neighbours.
My main concern is with the delay in the Council’s response at the second stage. Mr B was regularly reporting missed collections, while the crew was evidently recording that he was not presenting the bins. That situation continued after the Council’s first stage response, so clearly there was some issue over where the bin was being left. It could have been resolved early on with a quick phone call to clarify exactly where Mr B was leaving the bin, and where he should be leaving it. Instead, it took five months for the Council to consider Mr B’s emails as a stage two complaint, throughout which time no resolution was found. On that basis, I find fault.
I can see the Council has now offered Mr B a refund, although he does not appear to have received that correspondence. The refund was offered ‘from the last collection’. It is not clear if this means there would only be a partial refund, rather than the full year, and if so how much that would be. Given the delay in the Council resolving the issue, and because Mr B has only had one collection in seven months, I recommend the Council refund the full previous year’s fee.
In order to reinstate the service for this year, Mr B would need to register again in the same way as he did before. I understand that Mr B wishes to do this, if he can be confident the bin will be collected. I therefore recommend the Council write to Mr B to apologise for the delay resolving the matter, and to set out clearly where he should leave the bin. The Council should be clear about whether he can leave the bin at the edge of his front garden, but just within his boundary. Or whether he must leave it outside his boundary, on the public footpath. I know that, again, this is splitting hairs, but it was a matter of two to three metres that led to the problems in the first place.
If Mr B is satisfied with the Council’s letter, it is open to him to register again for the service. I note the Council has updated its in-cab systems for recording missed collections, which will hopefully help prevent any further problems arising in the future.
Agreed action
The Council has agreed to, within a month of this decision, the Council: Write to Mr B to apologise for the delay in responding to his complaint and resolving the matter. Explain exactly where Mr B needs to leave the bin, in order for it to be collected, should he decided to register again for the garden waste service Issue a full refund to Mr B for the 2021/22 year
Final decision
The Council is at fault for the delay in investigating Mr B’s concerns about the bin collection.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman