Basildon noisy binmen complainer gets £300 in council compensation

The noise from commercial bins being emptied in the early hours drove a man to complaining repeatedly to a council

A man who complained about being woken in the early hours by noisy binmen is to get £300 in compensation from an apologetic council for his "stress".

The unnamed man complained to Basildon Borough Council he had been woken three times a week between 04:30 and 05:30 BST since June 2021 by bin lorry noise.

His case went before the Local Government Ombudsman when he said the council failed to act.

The ombudsman said the council must compensate the man.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigates individual complaints about councils and adult social care providers.

The man, referred to throughout the ombudsman's report as "Mr X", took his case about the commercial bin collection noise to them, as The Basildon Echo first reported.

'Stress and inconvenience'

The report said: "Mr X complained the council has failed to [suitably] investigate a noise nuisance complaint about private-contracted bin collections since June 2021.

"Mr X says he is disturbed three times a week between 4:30am and 5:30am causing him disturbed sleep, stress and inconvenience."

The council spoke with its waste collection contractor who "agreed to reschedule collections after 07:00 with its subcontractor". The council told Mr X about this agreement on 10 August.

The ombudsman's report details several months of correspondence between Mr X and the council, in which the complainant said collections were still being made as early as 04:30.

He continued to complain and provided diary sheets to the council up to July 2022, detailing collection times.

The ombudsman concluded the council "took suitable steps in line with its policy in response to Mr X's first contact in July 2021" and by "continuing to pursue an informal resolution with the contractor" the ombudsman did "not find fault with the council".

However, it found the council showed "no attempt to review Mr X's diary sheets" and "while a council officer visited the site, there are no notes they tried to visit Mr X's property to try to witness the noise nuisance".

"This was a missed opportunity to review the evidence available and was [a] fault."

The ombudsman criticised the council for "repeatedly pursuing an informal approach" and said its "mishandling of Mr X's complaint has caused Mr X inconvenience, frustration and distress".

It concluded the council should "create a plan of action to investigate Mr X's noise nuisance complaint... apologise to Mr X and pay him £300 for the inconvenience, frustration and stress".

A council spokesperson said: "We accept the findings of the ombudsman's report and apologise to the complainant for failing to suitably investigate a noise nuisance complaint.

"The council is acting on the recommendations from the report and has formally contacted the customer in writing as agreed."