A second resident has been awarded council compensation for missed bin collections by the local ombudsman.
Since January 2017, 572 have complained about missed refuse and recycling collections, with most being upheld.
Of those, just two have progressed to the ombudsman and been upheld – but those determined residents have ended up with compensation.
In March, a report was published which revealed a man was paid £50 because the council was slow to respond to Mr B’s complaints of missed collections in his narrow street, which started when one of City Clean’s small trucks broke down.
Now, a second resident, referred to by the council as Mr L, has won a bigger payout of £150 for both missed collections and failing to respond to his complaints.
Mr L complained about regular missed collections in his cul-de-sac, which also meant it was difficult for him to push his pram past mounting piles of waste.
The problems again started when small vehicles were replaced with larger ones – and the ombudsman report shows that instead of buying a new small vehicle as it had promised Mr L, it instead bought a medium sized one.
The council also told him that the reason his collections were ad hoc was that they were staffed by binmen working overtime.
The report says: “Problems with missed collections have, as the Council accepted, occurred since July 2017.
“Despite its attempts to improve, this problem continues. The information it sent for 2018 showed this was a persistent, recurring problem throughout the year which Mr L and other residents must have found deeply frustrating.
“I am satisfied it was fault to allow this failure to continue for such a prolonged period, no matter what its cause.”
Before going to the ombudsman, residents must complain directly to the council, which has a two-stage procedure.
Since January 2017, the council received 572 complaints about missed bin collections, of which 490 were either fully or partially upheld.
Thirty-five were escalated to stage two, of which 16 were upheld or partially upheld.
And of the five which have been submitted to the ombudsman, so far two have been upheld. There is a three-month delay in the ombudsman completing a report, and it being publicly available.
