Decision Report 201602346

Summary

Mr C, a lawyer, complained to us on behalf of his client (Miss A). Mr C complained that the council failed to collect recycling bins from Miss A's address as scheduled, and about the council's handling of Miss A's complaint.

The council acknowledged there had been operational failures leading to missed collections from Miss A's address. For example, collection crews failed to record missed uplifts. This resulted in Miss A having to report missed collections and complain to the council on several occasions. The council's response to Miss A's complaint said they would ensure collections were not missed.

However, as Miss A had to report further missed collections to the council and complain to us, it was clear the council's response to her complaint failed to ensure recycling collections would take place. This called into question the quality of the council's investigation into Miss A's complaint and the remedy put in place as a result of her complaint.

We upheld Mr C's complaints and made recommendations. However, the council has taken action to address the failings in complaints handling and therefore we have made no recommendation in relation to this.

Recommendations

We recommended that the council:

• apologise to Miss A for missed recycling collections and explain to Miss A why collections were missed and the steps that have been taken to prevent this from happening;
• ensure that the depot manager engages with Miss A directly to allay any future concerns and give a direct response and assurances in relation to recycling collections; and
• provide us with copies of monitoring sheets for recent collections to show that all recycling collections at Miss A's address have been carried out as scheduled.