Complaint about dumped sofa and subsequent waste, October 6

[Joe K]

' to January 1st, in Mill Street'

After being left in Mill St for almost two months, despite Amey workers supposedly cleaning the road every Monday, I'm going to keep a record of this complaint, and hopefully get more than empty promises.


To Roy Matthews, Gloucester City Council (cc'd to Usman Bhaimia):


The first photo included was taken on October 6th, 2020. The last one was from this morning. Both the city council, and councillor Usman Bhaima, were informed of this, via Twitter (Usman Bhaimia offered to 'take your snap with the Rubbish' and then did nothing else, judging by the waste remaining there).

Given your statement below that you would make 'them aware that they must clear fly tipping and that they are to sweep up anything else that is left on the road or footpath', I am now making a complaint to the city council that Amey staff are continuing to fail/refuse to do so.

I want this complaint to be dealt with properly, in line with the council's official complaints procedure, which doesn't mean you coming back to me with yet more assurances of what what you say you will do. It means that someone from the council actually responds to the complaint and conducts an investigation, the conclusions of which s/he will send to me. They should contain concrete commitments that ensure this kind of derogation of duty never happens again, or an admission that the council is powerless to ensure the compliance of Amey in these matters. Either one.

I await the the council's acknowledgement of this email. Not just the automatic response, but an active acknowledgement of intent from the person who will conduct the investigation, as soon as that person is selected.


Joe Kilker



-----Original Message-----
From: *******@aol.com
To: [e-mail] <[e-mail]>
CC: [e-mail] <[e-mail]>; [e-mail] <[e-mail]>; [e-mail] <[e-mail]>; [e-mail] <[e-mail]>
Sent: Fri, 15 May 2020 13:14
Subject: Re: 11269697 - Mill Street

Hi Mr Matthews,

I didn't email to get a 'sorry', especially as such apologies don't lead to lasting, if any, change, in how litterpickers behave.

I emailed to get an answer from the people who are supposed to determine whether a 'Gating Order' happens in Mill Street, and for that to happen, it seems that Ken Pitt has to tell the police what he told me ('I am advised that in the attempts to repair the fault, WPD staff were subjected to anti social and abusive behaviour by certain individuals, which cannot and will not be tolerated.'), and apparently he hasn't.

If that doesn't change, I will have to make a complaint, that council staff are either allowing dangerous individuals to remain on the loose, or making things up.


Joe Kilker



-----Original Message-----
From: Matthews, Roy <[e-mail]>
To: *********@aol.com <[e-mail]>
Sent: Thu, 14 May 2020 13:35
Subject: RE: 11269697 - Mill Street

Good Afternoon Mr Kilker,

Firstly I am sorry that you had to email us to say that the waste was not removed and that I have not answered your email. I have spoken to the new crew that are in your area and I have made them aware that they must clear fly tipping and that they are to sweep up anything else that is left on the road or footpath I check Mill Street and the alleyway and I could see the mess that you mentioned in the email I called the crew when I was there and I made them remove everything and to sweep the alleyway.


Roy Matthews
Street Cleansing Supervisor | Environmental Services
Amey

t: 01452 316673 | m: 07800 625436 | e: [e-mail]
Eastern Avenue Depot | Gloucester | GL4 6PG

Regards

[Joe K]

No response to my email yet, but at 11:30 this morning, the rubbish was gone, so it'd be a hell of a coincidence if that wasn't connected. It might be a good sign that I haven't had another 'Sorry' email from Roy Matthews, that could mean they feel constrained to deal with a complaint properly for a change.

[Joe K]

This just came in, literally:

Thank you for your email received by Gloucester City Council's Contact Centre. Your complaint has been logged under the above reference number. Please quote this reference number in future communications about this issue.



Gloucester City Council is committed to improving the quality of the services we provide to you and we take complaints received seriously.



Your complaint has been passed to our City Improvement ( Environment ) section for a response - an officer will contact you within 10 working days to respond to your complaint or to advise you of when they will be able to respond.



If we can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.



Yours sincerely





Stephen

Customer Services Officer

[Joe K]

Note: it's from the city council address, [e-mail], but that's no guarantee that it's not from an Amey employee.

[Joe K]

Sent at 13.38:

Hi,

I'm going to assume that until you have spoken to 'the regular team member', your investigation is not complete, then?

I dare say I got my months mixed up, but I also didn't post the first photo I took, from October 26th. Over two months is surely bad enough, and the reason why 'ReportIt' - and even FixMyStreet, when Amey employees evidently clearly can't be bothered to click on the link and see a map identifying exact locations* - is inadequate. Why would anyone trust the council, either council, to deal with reports when Amey ignores such a blatant example of fly-tipping for two months, and shows no respect for FMS?

If those responsible for the council's social media are failing to pass on what they are told, that is surely as bad as Amey litterpickers not reporting fly-tipping when they see it, and again, if a bad job were not being done in the first place, things would never get as far as Twitter. The horse has bolted, fix the gate and get it back before rounding on those who told you it was loose.

They should contain concrete commitments that ensure this kind of derogation of duty never happens again, or an admission that the council is powerless to ensure the compliance of Amey in these matters. Either one.

I await the the council's acknowledgement of this email. Not just the automatic response, but an active acknowledgement of intent from the person who will conduct the investigation, as soon as that person is selected.

I received acknowledgement of my complaint yesterday morning. The sender of the email was not identified as you, as requested, and not enough time has passed for what I would consider to be a proper investigation (which you've admitted it hasn't been, yet). I made it clear that a satisfactory outcome to my complaint would contain the commitments/admissions I've described. Do you intend to publish an unsatisfactory outcome?


Joe Kilker


*such as this one, which is now in three pieces because Amey won't use the map, and had Sally Godwin email me for a location instead. www.fixmystreet.com/report/1998311




-----Original Message-----
From: Sara Boon <[e-mail]>
To: ***********@aol.com <[e-mail]>
CC: Usman Bhaimia <[e-mail]>
Sent: Fri, 8 Jan 2021 12:23
Subject: Ref 01575098 Fly-tipping Mill street

Dear Mr Kilker,

Thank you for contacting us to let us know about the fly tip in Mill Street. I note that you had previously reported on Twitter. To ensure the issue is properly logged for removal it is always best to report through [e-mail] , the ‘Report It’ function on the council website or by telephoning us on 01452 396396. I am told the fly-tip was removed on 1 January 2021.

I see that you previously took a photograph of the fly tip ( the file information on the photo says 6 November not 6 October?) and that it has taken some time for it to be removed. I am sorry this was the case. I would have expected the street cleaning crew to have reported this when litter picking in the area. I’ve asked why this didn’t happen, however the regular team member is off at the moment, so I don’t have the information to provide to you as I write today. Street cleaning crews are being reminded to report in fly tips when they see them.

Please be assured that we do work with our contractor (Amey) to monitor and improve street cleaning standards, and it is useful to hear when things have gone wrong to drive up standards, review and improve procedures. But as mentioned above please log any issues you see through the correct channels, rather than just to individual members of staff or via social media. I’m sure you would agree that it is also the responsibility of local communities to take pride in the place they live, as well as the Council and its contractor to clean up where there is littering and fly tipping.

Kind regards,


Sara Boon
Streetcare Client Officer

[Joe K]

I have failed to keep this exchange with the council updated, and will have a few emails to post up. Suffice to say that the council are reluctant to begin with Stage 2, asserting that they consider the matter closed. Actually, they're inviting me to contact the Ombudsman if I'm still not happy, so they must think that they have satisfactorily discharged Stage 2, despite not speaking to the worker involved.

Catch up on Monday, hopefully.

[Joe K]

I had a busy day yesterday, so this didn't get done. I'll try to power through it now, because the fully updated thread will be useful to present to some councillors/council candidates who have ignored this problem, despite being told about it in person.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 15:44

To:[e-mail]

Hi,

And I explained that acknowledgements of poor performance and belated action don't count for much when they keep happening, which is why I am not accepting such acknowledgements any more. Fool me once, etc.

Certainly, I should like to raise a Stage 2 complaint, but I've been waiting two months for one of those, or a fresh complaint, to be accepted by David Evans, with no response to my email...

'Perhaps you are asking, though, if I want to move on to the stage 2 investigation, or make a fresh complaint? Given my prolonged experience of dealing with you, I would say the latter, as long as it is recognised that the current situation persists because of a failure to monitor how Sainsbury's conducted their installation, and with what signage.'

I'm beginning to wonder if what I'm receiving from the council, and its contractors, bears any resemblance to the complaints procedure.

Can you therefore send me that procedure? I can't access it from the council's site, because a message pops up telling me they'll assume, if I 'continue', that I am 'happy to accept cookies', and if I clicked 'OK', I'd be lying. If the assumption* was left out, everything would be fine.


Joe Kilker


*because we know what happens when you make an assumption...




-----Original Message-----
From: Sara Boon <[e-mail]>
To: **************.com
Sent: Tue, 12 Jan 2021 12:51
Subject: RE: Ref 01575098 Fly-tipping Mill street

Dear Mr Kilker,

I write in response to your further email. I acknowledged in my previous email that it should not have taken this length of time to remove a fly-tip located on public highway. I have confirmed that the fly-tip has now been removed and that crews are being reminded to report in fly-tips on the public highway when they see them. If feedback from the member of staff results in any other improvements to procedure, then this will be done.

Amey staff do not currently have direct access to information supplied to the Council, for instance from Report It. However a location address would be supplied to them when the request to remove the fly tip was given to them. Fix My Street is an independent web site operated by My Society. If an issue is reported via this platform then Gloucester City Council’s Customer Services team receive an email from Fix my Street, the information from this is then transferred to the Council’s system and sent to Amey. No location maps are provided to Amey, just a location address for the issue.

With regard to social media, while the Council reads the posts that come in and do our best to respond to them in a timely manner, we do not have a resource to monitor social media on a full time basis, this is why we ask that issues are reported using alternative methods.

I confirm I am the officer who investigated your complaint and I now consider the complaint answered. Should you wish to raise to a stage 2 complaint then please contact [e-mail]

Regards,

Sara Boon.

------------------------------------------------

And then...


Re: Stage 2 Complaint
Fri, 15 Jan 2021 14:31

To:[e-mail]; CC: [e-mail] [e-mail], [e-mail] [e-mail]

Again,

'They should contain concrete commitments that ensure this kind of derogation of duty never happens again, or an admission that the council is powerless to ensure the compliance of Amey in these matters. Either one.'


Rubbish didn't start piling up in this Mill St alley/semi-cul de sac when the pandemic started. Long before that, Amey litterpickers were choosing to ignore obvious fly-tipping. Alcoholic drink cans and bottles also piled up, so there was street drinking and, to judge by the occasional condom wrapper, prostitution. Someone over-seeing drain repairs claimed his workers had been threatened by individuals, so add anti-social behaviour to that, except that the police were never informed of this for some reason.

This isn't close to two months, almost eight weeks of supposed Monday litterpicks where failure to mention an old sofa, and latterly a washing machine, can be excused. Not after the same kind of thing was written off long before Covid. Again, if you can't compel the compliance of Amey, just say so, and let Ubico take over, as recommended by the council's Labour group.

There are next to no social distancing issues when it comes to litterpicking, or picking up fly-tipping. The pandemic has, I'm sure, increased Amey's costs over many other issues, but it doesn't explain, or excuse, this negligence. Unless the explanation is that this alley ceased to be inspected because of 'cost'? It still wouldn't be an excuse.

I would say that you haven't answered my complaint until you have spoken to the employee concerned, and relayed his justification/excuse to me.

Nor do you help your case if you fail to encourage your employees to make proper use of Fix My Street reports. I wonder how much it costs the council to provide a less informative, or transparent, system? I suppose a FoI request would provide the answer, eventually.


Joe Kilker



-----Original Message-----
From: Dawn Fearn <[e-mail]>
To: **************.com
Sent: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 13:11
Subject: Stage 2 Complaint

Dear Mr Kilker,

I write in response to your stage 2 complaint, taking into account what has already been said by officers of the Council in regard to this particular incident. I believe we have already acknowledged that in this instance the fly tip was there longer than is acceptable. In future I would also urge you as my colleague has already said, to report through the here to help facility rather than via social media to ensure we deal with the issue promptly.

We are in unprecedented times, Covid 19 has stretched our resources to the limit but we have managed to maintain our services and the staff at Amey should be applauded for the work they have continued to do on a day to day basis. They have more waste, more recycling, more litter and more flytipping and Covid has also hit their workforce as it has every workforce.

Occasionally we get things wrong and we rely on residents like yourself to let us know, so thank you for that. Once we do know we are very reactive and fly tips are generally picked up within the 48 hour target time. Amey have a set of key performance indicators and one of the things we measure every month is the amount of time it takes them to remove reported fly tips, they have never failed that target. However I am disappointed that none of the litter pickers working in this area during this period of time noticed this and reported it for removal and I will be speaking to the street cleansing supervisor about this, as we should always encourage staff to be proactive in these matters.

I hope this answers your complaint and we can continue to have a relationship where we work together for the benefit of your neighbourhood. If however you remain dissatisfied with my response you are within your rights to contact the Local Government Ombudsman.

With regards

Dawn Fearn (MCIWM)
Waste Recycling and Streetscene Manager
Gloucester City Council

[Joe K]

So that's two weeks, and nothing.

[Joe K]

As recommended by Dawn Fearns, I've made a complaint to the LGO. Their email address, however, is 'Do Not Reply' so I have to use their website, which really sucks for including the whole history of the complaint. Therefore I'm pasting the contents of the email here, so I can post a link to it (and hope that's allowed).


Sent by email:

In the latest incident, a half dozen or so bags of rubbish were dumped in this alley on June 28th, and were left undealt with, while other rubbish stacked up next to them, until July 8th, fully ten days later.

I am therefore taking up Dawn Fearn's invitation to take this up with the Local Ombudsman.

A satisfactory outcome would be a commitment by Gloucester City Council to provide a schedule, as requested already, confirming that this alley is inspected on at least a weekly basis, as currently it looks as if the council relies on reports of rubbish instead of such inspections to send a crew out, and clearly the onus shouldn't be on residents to do that.


Cheers, Joe Kilker



-----Original Message-----
From: Dawn Fearn <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail] <[e-mail]>
Sent: Thu, Apr 22, 2021 10:10 am
Subject: RE: Stage 2 Complaint

Dear Mr Kilker,

I have already responded to your stage 2 complaint, but to confirm our street cleaning crews were spoken to about the issue and are now checking this area on a regular basis.

If you remain unsatisfied with my response, your next step is to contact the Local Government Ombudsman.

With regards



Dawn Fearn
Waste Recycling and Streetscene Manager
Place
Gloucester City Council
Shire Hall
Westgate Street
Gloucester, GL1 2TG

[phone]

[e-mail]
www.gloucester.gov.uk
The content of this email and any related emails do not constitute a legally binding agreement and we do not accept service of court proceedings or any other formal notices by email unless specifically agreed by us in writing.






From: [e-mail] <[e-mail]>
Sent: 21 April 2021 20:17
To: Dawn Fearn <[e-mail]>
Cc: Sara Boon <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Stage 2 Complaint

CAUTION: This email originates from outside the organisation. Do not click links or open attachments unless you trust the sender and know the contact is safe. Contact IT if in doubt
Hi,

As I made it very clear already, in response to your email below, that 'I would say that you haven't answered my complaint until you have spoken to the employee concerned, and relayed his justification/excuse to me', and that consequently, my Stage 2 complaint has not been addressed, I am reminding you again that you haven't done as requested, and that you have ignored my reply, sent on the day of your own email being sent.

Are you refusing to speak to this employee, or is he no longer an employee?

Or are you forcing me to contact the local Government Ombudsman by refusing to respond?


Joe Kilker


-----Original Message-----
From: Dawn Fearn <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail] <[e-mail]>
Sent: Fri, Jan 15, 2021 1:11 pm
Subject: Stage 2 Complaint
Dear Mr Kilker,

I write in response to your stage 2 complaint, taking into account what has already been said by officers of the Council in regard to this particular incident. I believe we have already acknowledged that in this instance the fly tip was there longer than is acceptable. In future I would also urge you as my colleague has already said, to report through the here to help facility rather than via social media to ensure we deal with the issue promptly.

We are in unprecedented times, Covid 19 has stretched our resources to the limit but we have managed to maintain our services and the staff at Amey should be applauded for the work they have continued to do on a day to day basis. They have more waste, more recycling, more litter and more flytipping and Covid has also hit their workforce as it has every workforce.

Occasionally we get things wrong and we rely on residents like yourself to let us know, so thank you for that. Once we do know we are very reactive and fly tips are generally picked up within the 48 hour target time. Amey have a set of key performance indicators and one of the things we measure every month is the amount of time it takes them to remove reported fly tips, they have never failed that target. However I am disappointed that none of the litter pickers working in this area during this period of time noticed this and reported it for removal and I will be speaking to the street cleansing supervisor about this, as we should always encourage staff to be proactive in these matters.

I hope this answers your complaint and we can continue to have a relationship where we work together for the benefit of your neighbourhood. If however you remain dissatisfied with my response you are within your rights to contact the Local Government Ombudsman.

With regards

Dawn Fearn (MCIWM)
Waste Recycling and Streetscene Manager
Gloucester City Council

[Joe K]

Your Reference is 53225