The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council repeatedly failed to collect his refuse bins. The Council has already acknowledged there has been fault and has taken the appropriate steps to put the problem right and remedy any injustice experienced by Mr X. Further investigation would achieve nothing meaningful.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council failed on several occasions to collect his rubbish or only collect some of it. He also complained the refuse crew sometimes used his bin to collect the rubbish from other properties.
Mr X says this was a terrible ordeal causing unnecessary alarm, distress, anxiety, worry and inconvenience. He says it has left him mentally, emotionally and physically drained and exhausted.
He wants a written apology and compensation.
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 we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (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
The Council has apologised to Mr X for the matters he complains about. It has spoken to the refuse crew and reminded it of its duties and put his property under a collection inspection to monitor the situation. A senior manager also provided Mr X with his telephone number to call if he experienced any problems. These actions are appropriate to address the fault it identified and to remedy any injustice experienced by Mr X.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman