The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an alleged obstruction to the complainant’s property caused by the Council’s bin collection contractor, or its collection point. This is because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
The complaint
The complainant (Mr X) complains the Council’s waste collection contractor blocked his driveway on a day in mid-2024 while conducting a collection from a neighbouring property. He says that despite his requests the lorry be moved, the crew refused to do, were rude and ignored his concerns. Mr X is dissatisfied with the Council’s response to his complaint which he says disregards health and safety concerns when selecting a designated collection point.
In summary, Mr X says the alleged fault has caused him frustration. As a desired outcome, he wants the Council to adhere policy, procedures and legislative requirements under health and safety.
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 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)).
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Before accepting a complaint, we must be satisfied the person complaining to us has been caused a significant and personal injustice as a result of fault. This means Mr X needs to demonstrate he has suffered serious loss, harm or distress as a result of the fault by the Council. I recognise what Mr X says in terms of his concerns causing him frustration and how the issues amount to health and safety failings. He says the waste collection service caused an obstruction for 45 minutes. The Council disputes this and says the collection was completed in under 15 minutes. It also does not accept Mr X’s point in relation to health and safety concerns. Regardless of fault, I am not satisfied on the evidence available to me that this amounts to Mr X suffering serious loss, harm or distress. The alleged fault relates to an isolated incident involving waste collection. In my view, the alleged injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. We will not therefore investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the restriction I outline at paragraph three (above) applies.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman