The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a missed garden waste collection because the Council has provided a fair response.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains about a missed garden waste collection. Mr X also complains he had to call the Council more than once before the crew returned to collect the waste. Mr X wants an apology and damages.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X paid for the garden waste service; he receives assisted collections. The Council missed a collection in April. Mr X reported the missed collection and made several phone calls before the bin was emptied; on some occasions he could not get through on the phone.
The Council apologised for the missed collection. It explained the round had a new crew who were unfamiliar with the location of assisted collections. The Council said managers had spoken to the crew and the crew would be required to confirm that each scheduled collection had been completed. The Council extended Mr X's subscription by one collection to cover the missed collection.
I will not start an investigation because the Council has provided a satisfactory response. It has apologised, explained what went wrong, taken steps to improve the service and extended Mr X’s subscription. There is nothing more I would expect it to do and, in view of the response, there is no reason to start an investigation or ask for compensation. Missed collections are annoying and frustrating, especially when they are not immediately corrected, but not everything that goes wrong requires compensation.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because the Council has provided a satisfactory response.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman