Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

This is the second time in a row now that Veolia have failed to collect our refuse.  Not just our's but our neighbours as well as far as I can see.

In the 3 years that we have lived here this has only started happening recently.  With a full household the bins are packed come Wednesday and every time we report this to Veolia they say they have had no complaints and that everything is running on schedule or they say they will come and get it the next day, however still no collection.

Last time out they didn't arrive till Saturday and by then our bins were overflowing.

Is anyone else having this problem?  

Is there more that can be done other than complaining to Veolia directly?  We pay enough in council tax to expect a certain level of service but it looks like Veolia's service levels have gone down the tube.

Tags for Forum Posts: refuse, rubbish, veolia, veolia missed collections

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Like Michael A above, some extra constraint is now affecting the service level. Little things like our wheelie bins being returned but only level with the open front garden gate so they obstruct the entry, when previously they were put back to where they found them 2 metres further in. Much stricter on bins filled beyond the top rim (a problem for the HMO next to me, I've even transferred the excess to my 2/3 empty bin so everything does get emptied).

Overall, if there's any possible excuse to overlook a bin they'll now take it - hence we move all our bins and bags as close as possible to the gate in plain sight, rather than leaving them up by the front door.

Gordon T
Your description suggests a slow but steady damaging of trust and confidence.
A lousy basis for residents, our council and the council's contractors to build a co-working, co-production or any co-operative relationship.

The saddest aspect may be that the people at the top don't even realise this is happening. Or lack the disposition to learn. Lack the capacity or self-awareness to understand it. Unable and unwilling to try to identify an accurate outline of the problem. Let alone begin thinking of possible solutions.

According to people who've peeked over their shoulders, Claire Kober and her allies now have a Whatsapp group. A self-validating echo chamber. A virtual world where they are right and everyone else is out-of-step. A world where they they are the victims.
Victims of terrible government cuts which provide endless excuses for poor decisions they themselves make. Victims of nasty left wingers who are - they tell one another - still living in the 1980s. And victims of unfair local residents who don't appreciate how wonderfully well the Council is doing. Residents who may have begun doubting the expensive glossy PR - even when from time to time, it is true.

A bit like Matilda:
"who told such Dreadful Lies,
It made one Gasp and Stretch one's Eyes"

Yes! This is our front garden AFTER collection this morning - they (or someone) has dumped some bags out of the black bin into the garden since about 11.30pm (which was the last time I looked) - there has been no dry rubbish collection this week either . . .

I have to write to the Council almost every week about the uncollected food waste bins. They normally apologise and arrange for collection in a day or two. The point is that why do I have to keep contacting them for a service that I pay for?!

This drive me nuts! It's more than 8 times now in the last year that my food waste has not been collected. I've complained endlessly and so fed up

Have you contacted your ward councillors? Contact details on the Council website here.

Thanks Alan. Yes, I've complained to my ward councillor and also the Member for Environment who sits on the board of the North London Waste Authority.

Three households. Three wards or one? I don't know. With sparse information given it's hard to say something useful. Except perhaps to write to all three of your own ward councillors instead of just one. And while emailing Peray Ahmet the "Cabinet" member may be a good idea, her membership of the Board of North London Waste Authority NLWA probably won't help solve three sets of problems.

It's a pain. We all want the waste collection systems to work smoothly and invisibly. And not have to worry and complain about it. We do our bit "presenting our waste" on the days, in the containers, and sorted as Veolia request. But then they don't do their bit and we often don't know why. Is it a temporary or not-so-temporary blip? Or a systemic problem that needs sorting-out by somebody who has more clout than a Veolia Call Centre person?
Veolia have a "Village Manager" system. (Yes, the title is ridiculous.) The Manager is, or is supposed to be the person who has this extra clout. I suggest phoning Veolia and asking for the name, email address and phone number of your Village Manager and request that they contact you. Send an email confirming this request with  some brief but key details of the particular problem(s).
If your ward councillors/ Peray Ahmet are already on the case, copy them in.

My wife Zena Brabazon is one of the three ward councillors for Harringay ward. She tells me she's currently chasing up problems of missed weekly collections in that ward.

Update on collection, they have come this morning (Saturday) 4 days after they should of to collect the refuse.  We got told by Veolia that they are having problems with the trucks (not quite sure what the actual problem is).

I have not had a response to the complaint I submitted on the council website either which was submitted on Thursday.

The Council usually take 5-10 working days to respond to complaints.

This may perhaps depend on the nature of a complaint. I reported a badly damaged street bollard on 2 July. The acknowledgement arrived yesterday giving the date of my report as 7 July. And saying they "will inspect the problem within two working days and decide how urgently it needs to be fixed." 

Noticing a similar delay before, I phoned to ask why. They are running with several days backlog.

Dysfunctional of course, if it leads to duplicated complaints which in themselves risk clogging the system. Dispiriting for staff who I assume simply want to do a good job and solve problems. And discouraging for residents.
I suspect this is Koberville with the wheels coming off. Bloated PR and vanity taking projects taking priority over basic services.

I have this exact same problem too.

I made a complaint to veolia but have had no reply.

I asked for a larger bin to partially mitigate the problem.

No idea how to solve it.

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