Brum Council pays woman after failed rubbish collection left nappies, rotting food outside her home for days

Birmingham City Council has paid out £100 to a woman after failed rubbish collections meant ‘nappies, sanitary products, and rotting food’ were left for days in the street outside her house.

The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman found the council was at fault for delays in responding to spillage and debris complaints. A report published on March 3, 2023, said the Birmingham woman was caused an injustice by the council’s actions.

The woman, named as Miss X in the Ombudsman’s report, initially complained that the council had refused to give her a wheelie bin due to the steep steps leading up to her home. It instead told her to present household waste in refuse sacks.

Miss X claimed these bags were split open by animals and their contents strewn across the street outside her home. She said that despite ‘repeated complaints’, the council ‘routinely failed’ to clean up the spilt waste, leaving behind ‘unpleasant, smelly rubbish’ such as nappies and sanitary products.

According to the council’s records, Miss X made three requests for street cleaning in September 2022 and two in October 2022. These requests were all closed which indicated the street cleaning crew had turned up, but the closure dates showed some inconsistencies.

For example, three requests made in September and October were closed by the council on October 7, but Miss X provided photographs of the uncollected waste still there several days later.

Following an Ombudsman investigation, the city council said moving a heavy wheelie bin up and down the steep steps was a health and safety risk and that there were ‘no alternative arrangements’ it could make regarding the sack collections.

The Ombudsman said the council was not at fault here as Miss X’s property did not meet the criteria for a wheelie bin. However, the council was found at fault for failing to act on the complaints about foul-smelling rubbish left in the street.

The council agreed to apologise to Miss X and pay her £100 for the time and trouble she had been put through by its failure to act.

Cllr Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for environment, said: “We accept the findings in this case and are taking the steps outlined in the decision of the Ombudsman.”