Watchdog backs 4 in 5 complaints about bin rounds
SUCCESSFUL complaints about rubbish collections are soaring as households highlight problems with their service.
Some 81 per cent of grievances the Local Government Ombudsman was alerted to regarding bin collections were upheld in figures for 2016/17.
This is sharply up on the 69 per cent of the previous year, and well above the average of 53 per cent of successful complaints for all types of investigations by the ombudsman.
The watchdog said the service should be ‘simple to get right’. Problems included repeatedly missed collections, poor handling of complaints, and issues with assistance for the disabled. One woman had to phone her council every fortnight for more than three months because bin men kept failing to collect her rubbish, the watchdog’s report – Lifting the Lid on Bin Complaints – said.