The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council asking the complainant to move her bins. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains the Council asked her to move her bins from the highway without checking that the bins were on her own land. Ms X wants the Council to acknowledge its disgraceful behaviour.
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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code and invited Ms X to comment on a draft of this decision.
My assessment
It is an offence to keep bins on the highway. People should retrieve their bins as soon as possible after collection.
The Council received a report that Ms X had been leaving her bins on the highway after collections. Ms X was not aware this was not permitted. Ms X returned the bins to a different location on her land. This led a new issue because Ms X moved the bins so they were close to her neighbour’s front door. This led to a complaint of anti-social behaviour following a history of neighbour problems. The Council asked Ms X to keep her bins away from the highway but also away from the neighbour’s door.
Ms X says the Council has bullied and intimidated her and failed to check she was keeping her bins on her own land.
I will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council acted appropriately by asking Ms X not to leave her bins on the highway and, to help ease neighbourly relations, it also asked her not to leave the bins close to her neighbour’s door. I appreciate Ms X feels she has been treated badly but I have not seen anything which suggests we need to start an investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman