The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about spills during waste collections. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and insufficient evidence of injustice. In addition, we cannot achieve the outcome the complainant would like.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains about spills during waste collections. She says her complaints have been ignored and officers do not do their jobs. Mrs X wants the crew to be fined for littering and for other officers to have their salaries docked.
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, 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)) We cannot investigate a complaint if it is about a personnel issue. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5a, paragraph 4, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Mrs X made in reply to a draft of this decision.
My assessment
In early 2021 Mrs X reported the crew spiling waste during the collections and not cleaning up. The Council responded to the complaint, which included visiting the road and doing monitoring, and signposted Mrs X to us in April 2021. Mrs X did not complain to us in 2021 and she did not report any further collection problems until January 2022. The Council visited the site three times and gave reminders to the crew.
Mrs X reported another problem in July 2022 and said the crew had left food waste in the road which she had swept up.
The Council apologised and said a supervisor had reminded the crew to clear up any spills. The Council confirmed the vans carry shovels which the crew should use to deal with any spills. Mrs X denies there are shovels on the van and says some staff have confirmed this and used their hands to pick up spills.
I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice. The Council responded appropriately by reminding the crew of the need to clean any spills and confirming they have the equipment to do this. I appreciate Mrs X feels aggrieved by any waste left in the street, and continues to assert the vans do not carry shovels, but this does not represent a degree of injustice requiring an investigation.
Mrs X wants staff to have deductions from their wages or to be fined for littering. We have no power to intervene in personnel issues and cannot ask for changes to anyone’s pay or for fines to be issued.
Final decision
We will not start an investigation there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice and because we cannot achieve the outcome the complainant would like.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman