The bin was broken after it was used “like a wheelbarrow” by crews to collect waste from a street of houses on a narrow road on 14 March 2023 to tip into a lorry, which was “usual practise”.
In the judgement published this week, the Ombudsman said CCTV from the back of the bin lorry on the day shows an overfull black bin with Ms X’s house number on it being loaded onto the lorry. The lid comes off and disappears inside the truck when the machine tips the contents in.
After receiving no response when she reported a broken bin, the resident complained. However she was told she had to pay for replacement bins because it was overfilled. This complaint was escalated, but again the resident was told she would have to pay herself.
Ms X provided video footage she had taken of crews using her bin to collect waste from all houses on the street and tipping it into a lorry.
However, Serco told told the ombudsman it had not seen Ms X’s video and “would have made a different decision had it been available when responding to Ms X’s complaint”.
Findings
The Ombudsman found that both Lambeth council and its contractor bear responsibility for the persistent issues Ms X encountered with the overfilled bins in March 2023.
It said “the injustice to Ms X is avoidable time and trouble, inconvenience and the cost of having to get a new bin. There is also avoidable distress of being wrongly accused of something she did not do.”
Moreover, both the contractor Serco and Lambeth council “did not consider Ms X’s video. If they had, it seems likely the council would have changed its position and decided the damage was not Ms X’s fault. This was a missed opportunity for the council and its contractor to resolve the matter without an LGSCO investigation”.
Lambeth agreed to award Serco the collections contract, which began on 1 October 2021, in February 2021 (see letsrecycle.com story). The value could exceed £277 million over 14 years.
‘Sincere Apologies’
Jason Jones, Serco’s senior contract manager in Lambeth, told letsrecycle.com: ‘We would like to sincerely apologise to the resident for the avoidable time and trouble she expended on this case. The relevant crew have been retrained since this complaint – it has been made clear to them that the practice of gathering waste from neighbouring properties into one resident’s bin must cease immediately. As a result of the corrective actions taken, we are confident this resident will begin to see the high levels of service quality Serco customarily provides.’
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