Havering Council ruled against by ombudsman in bin complaint

Havering Council has been found to have caused an “injustice” to a woman after she complained relating to her bin collection.

In a recently published Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report, the council was found to be at fault and ordered to buy the resident two replacement bins, cover the cost of a wheelie bin and improve its service.

An ombudsman is an official appointed to investigate individual complaints against a company or organisation.

“We find the council at fault, and this caused Ms X injustice,” the ombudsman said.

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They found that the woman, who has mobility issues, had requested assisted collections from the council in September 2022.

The council agreed to this and its subcontractor responsible for waste collection picked up the rubbish from her wheelie bin for three weeks, the report said.

When she asked the council to remind the subcontractors to close the bin lid because she was unable to empty it of rain, the authority reportedly told her it did not collect from wheelie bins.

Ms X then made a complaint, saying that the council refused to collect waste from her wheelie bin despite previously agreeing to do so.

She said this caused unnecessary distress, frustration and confusion, according to the ombudsman.

It said: “She is unable to put her waste out herself due to mobility issues. She said she is scared she will have an accident if she tries to do this.”

The complaint was upheld by the ombudsman and the council agreed to take action “to remedy the injustice caused and make an improvement to its service”.

A Havering Council spokesperson said: “The council always tries to deliver the best service and support to our residents and we will continue to do that.

“However, we accept the ombudsman’s findings in this case. Occasionally things do go wrong but we will look to learn from mistakes that have been made.

“We are looking forward to introducing an improved waste and recycling service with our new contractors, Urbaser, in October, which will further help us to provide the best possible service to our residents.”