The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the actions of refuse operatives and the Council in dealing with the issue as there is not enough evidence of injustice caused by fault to warrant investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains the refuse collection service contracted by the Council has damaged his bins, left litter in their wake and discarded the containers in a discourteous manner.
Mr X further complains he was subject to a verbal assault by a refuse collection operative and the Council failed to address his complaints about the collection service prior to this.
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: any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council in June 2020 regarding the way operatives were discarding his bins and that the bins had been damaged. The Council acknowledged this communication but appear not to have acted on it.
Mr X further complained about the actions of operatives in March 2021 and asked the Council to put an improvement plan in place. The Council acknowledged the communication and agreed to replace his external garden and household waste bins.
Mr X complains he was verbally assaulted by an operative in June 2021. Video evidence provided shows Mr X challenging the operative on how he had discarded the bags and boxes. The operative is then heard using an expletive in his subsequent reply to Mr X.
Mr X reported what was said to the Police. This was then viewed by the Council as a police matter and as such they would not investigate further. Mr X has confirmed the Police are taking no further action. There is insufficient injustice caused by fault to warrant further investigation by us.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient injustice caused by fault to warrant further investigation. Regarding the verbal assault complained of, the use of an expletive is insufficient injustice to warrant further investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman