The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s bulky waste collection service, and how it dealt with his complaint about it.
It was fault by the Council not to collect the waste on the original date. But there is not enough evidence of significant personal injustice caused to Mr X by that or other related matters to justify an investigation. We do not investigate council’s complaints processes in isolation where we are not pursuing the core issue which gave rise to the complaint.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council: failed to do a bulky waste collection on the 17 January date as he had requested; failed to confirm with him the waste had been collected on 21 January; took two months to complete the complaint process, during which officers did not always reply to his correspondence.
Mr X says the matter cost him time, and caused him stress, trouble and inconvenience at a difficult personal time. He says the situation caused him the expense of driving for four hours to and from the property and back home to check the waste had gone. Mr X wants a refund of the bulky waste collection charge and his mileage costs, and compensation for his time, trouble inconvenience and stress.
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 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 from Mr X, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X rents a property in the Council’s area and lives about 75 miles away. He was preparing to rent the property to tenants, moving in on 21 January 2022. Mr X paid for a bulky waste collection from the property by the Council, to be taken on 17 January 2022. The Council missed that date. Mr X reported this in the afternoon of 20 January and the Council collected the waste the following morning. Mr X subsequently visited the rental property from home to check the Council had taken the waste.
The Council missed the requested date to pick up the waste. That was fault. The day after the Mr X reported the fault, the Council collected the waste. Mr X wants the Council to refund his bulky waste collection fee. But he received the waste collection he paid for, albeit a few days later. There are no grounds for Mr X to receive a refund, because the Council took the waste.
I have considered whether that later collection date caused Mr X any significant personal injustice. I recognise Mr X had sought to get the waste removed before his new tenants arrived, and he did not want to be fined for fly-tipping by having the waste in the street. But the waste being collected four days later, on the morning Mr X’s tenants were expected, did not cause an injustice to him, and he received no fly-tipping fine. There was no significant personal injustice caused to Mr X by the collection happening four days later.
Mr X wants his mileage costs refunded because the Council did not notify him after they had taken the waste on 21 January. The evidence shows the Council advised him on 20 January that it would collect the waste on 21 January. Mr X responded to that Council message on 20 January, asking for the waste to be collected by 10am the next day. He did not ask for confirmation of collection. Mr X’s next message to the Council was on 26 January when he complains the Council did not confirm it had collected the waste, and states he had travelled for four hours to check for himself. I understand Mr X wanted confirmation the waste was gone. But it was his decision to get this by driving to the property. Mr X could have taken other actions to get confirmation before travelling. He could have sought it from the Council, or contacted his tenants to ask if the waste was still there, or waited to see if his tenants contacted him about it. There is not enough evidence of sufficient personal injustice caused to Mr X by the Council here to warrant us investigating.
Mr X complains about the Council’s complaint handling and the complaint process. We will not investigate complaints about councils’ own complaints processes in isolation when we are not investigating the core issue which gave rise to the complaint. We do not consider it an effective use of our resources to do so. That limitation applies here so we will not pursue this part of the complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because: there is not enough evidence of significant personal injustice caused to Mr X from the Council not collecting the waste on the booked date, or the other matters raised, to warrant us investigating; we do not investigate council’s complaints procedures in isolation where we are not pursuing the core issue giving rise to the complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman