The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council charging him £25 for waste collection items to replace those not left by the former owner of his house, Mr Y. There is not enough evidence of Council fault, and the matter does not cause Mr X a significant personal injustice, to warrant us investigating.
We cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants regarding the Council pursuing Mr Y for the items, or supporting him in taking Mr Y to court over the matter.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has: unfairly charged him £25 for replacement waste collection items which were not left there by Mr Y, the former owner of his house; refused to provide him with a statement of their ownership of the missing items which he can use in court to pursue Mr Y; refused to take action against Mr Y itself.
Mr X says the matter has caused him financial loss of £25 to replace the missing waste collection items. He wants that sum returned by the Council and/or for them to pursue Mr Y for the items, or support him in taking Mr Y to court.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In respect of the missing waste collection items, there is not enough evidence that it was Council fault which led to them not being available to Mr X when he moved into his new home to warrant us investigating. Councils cannot control what residents do with waste collection items. If Mr Y took them from the house, that is not an action by the Council.
In any event, even if there had been Council fault here, the £25 cost of the replacement items to Mr X is not such a significant personal injustice which justifies us investigating.
Mr X wants the Council to pursue Mr Y on this matter, or support him in taking his own court action against Mr Y. Councils are entitled to make their own cost‑benefit decision on whether it is worth them pursuing their property. We cannot order councils to take action against someone for loss or misplacement of council items. We also cannot order a council to provide support for someone pursuing their own legal action. This means we cannot achieve the outcomes Mr X seeks from this part of his complaint, so we will not investigate it.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because: there is not enough evidence that it was Council fault which led to some waste collection items not being available to Mr X in his new home; and even if there had been Council fault, the £25 cost to replace the equipment is not a significant personal injustice warranting investigation; and we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants regarding the Council pursuing Mr Y for the items, or supporting him in taking Mr Y to court on the matter, so we will not investigate it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman