The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a missed garden waste collection. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains about a missed garden waste collection and about the way the Council responded to his complaint.
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 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))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes Mr X’s emails to the Council and the complaint replies. I considered our Assessment Code and invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.
My assessment
Mr X reported a missed garden waste collection on 30 November. He also complains the Council failed to register his report and did not deal with his complaint correctly.
The Council apologised for the missed collection and said the crew returned a few days later but the bin was not available. Mr X denies the crew returned. The Council explained it responded to his complaints within the correct timescales.
I will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice. I appreciate missed collections are annoying and inconvenient but the impact of one missed collection does not warrant an investigation. Mr X pays for the service but the monetary loss for one missed collection is small.
In addition, while Mr X is dissatisfied with the way the Council responded, there is nothing to suggest we need to start an investigation. Mr X logged the missed collection on 30 November and by 12 December the Council had issued its final complaint response. There is not enough fault or injustice to require an investigation.
Final decision
I will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman