The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about a missed garden waste collection. This is because the Council was not at fault for not offering a refund and Mr B has not suffered a serious injustice as a result of the Council’s handling of this matter.
The complaint
Mr B complains the Council did not collect his garden waste which he pays the Council to collect. Mr B says when he requested a £2 refund the Council initially lied by saying he did not leave his waste for collection on this day. Mr B says it was only after he pursued his complaint and the Council viewed his video footage, which he had offered to provide from the start, that the Council accepted it was at fault and apologised.
Mr B complains the Council has refused to pay a refund. Mr B would also like the Council to pay him £50 compensation for the distress he suffered.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr B and information on the Council’s website about the garden waste collection service.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The terms and conditions for the Council’s garden waste collection service say service fees are non-refundable. So, the Council was not at fault for not offering Mr B a refund in recognition of the missed collection of his garden waste.
The Council is not required to provide a garden waste collection service. It is for the Council to decide how to operate this service. Mr B may consider it is unfair for the Council not to offer a refund when a collection has been missed. But, it is not our role to tell the Council to operate this service differently.
Mr B had to pursue a complaint before the Council accepted that the missed collection was because of fault by the refuse collectors and not because he did not leave his waste out as claimed.
Mr B would have been put to some time and trouble pursuing his complaint. Mr B also says he has suffered distress because he considers the Council lied to him. But, I find the Council’s handling of this matter has not caused Mr B a serious or significant injustice which would justify an investigation or the pursuit of a financial remedy by the Ombudsman.
So, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
For the above reasons, we will not investigate this complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman