Noisy trash collectors have the potential to do more harm than good. A Basildon council in south Essex in the East of England was forced to pay residents $360 in compensation due to the noise complaints against the garbagemen.
A local community member won the case after an ombudsman ruling declared that the council failed to take measures to resolve the distributiveness and there was ongoing noise at a shop near his home. The anonymous resident alleged that the noise was causing him stress three times a week between 4:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., resulting in “disturbed sleep, inconvenience and stress.”
The resident’s complaint was filed with the council and there was a mutual agreement to benefit both parties. The garbagemen said they will now adjust the collection time to after 7 a.m.
However, they didn’t hold up to the promised schedule, leaving the resident more frustrated with the early morning wake-ups. The resident went as far as taking noise recordings to prove the level of disturbance caused by the trash collectors.
The council was notified that temporary drivers were behind the high levels of noise and they were scheduled to take on more shifts due to staff shortages.
The resident claimed that the noisy behavior was detected even after the temporary drivers so it’s not a valid excuse.
The ombudsman ruled in favor of the resident citing that the council failed to follow through on the steps to mitigate the issue. “While a council officer visited the site, there are no notes they tried to visit the property to try to witness the noise nuisance,” the ombudsman said.
“This was a missed opportunity to review the evidence available and was [a] fault.”
The council is required to create a revised action plan to address the noise concerns as well as write a letter to the resident apologizing for the negligence on their part. They are also obligated to pay him $360 for the “inconvenience, frustration and stress caused by its mishandling of his complaint.”
A council spokesperson said: “We accept the findings of the ombudsman’s report and apologize 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.”
Source: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/council-ordered-pay-resident-300-29283925