The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s waste collection staff leaving other people’s bins where they block access to his property. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. Mr X has not been caused a significant personal injustice by the matter complained about.
The complaint
Mr X complained the Council’s waste collection staff frequently leave empty bins on his property preventing access.
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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In response to Mr X’s complaint the Council said one of its waste crews were moving bins from a private road to be collected. They were being placed close to Mr X’s property. This was to help a second collection crew which then emptied the bins. The second collection crew were returning the bins close to where they had collected them from. The Council said this sometimes meant access to Mr X’s property was blocked. The Council said it had visited the area and reminded its staff the bins should be collected from and returned to their properties.
The Ombudsman is funded by the public purse and we have an obligation to use our limited resources in an effective, efficient, and economic manner. This means that we will generally not investigate unless the person complaining has been caused a significant personal injustice. We do not investigate every complaint we receive. We only investigate the most serious cases. I understand Mr X’s frustrations, but the matter complained about does not represent a personal injustice significant enough to warrant our involvement. We will not therefore start an investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not been caused a significant personal injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman