Is it me or is the council massively overreacting here?

[Thepeopleversuswork]

So I have just had a bizarre run-in with my council waste services department which has made me wonder if I'm going mad or they are. I organised a local litter pick a few weeks ago. I contacted the council in advance to ask if I could borrow some litter pickers and they agreed, so I picked up a huge bag of them (far more than I needed, as it turned out), in a big bin bag. Possibly my mistake was not to have counted them, but they were pre-wrapped and I didn't know it was going to turn into such a big drama, so I didn't.

It turned out I only used one of the litter pickers in the pack from the council (I have two of my own and other people brought theirs) so I stuck it back into the pack and a few days later I brought the bag back to the council as requested. But I'm certain I only took one, which I put back and returned.

A few days later I had an email from a woman in waste management services ordering me "urgently" to return the missing litter pickers. There weren't any missing litter pickers, as far as I was concerned: there was the one I used, which went back into the bag and was returned. The woman said there were five missing. I reiterated that I certainly hadn't taken five as I hadn't needed them. I checked around my house to make sure some hadn't been mislaid but there were definitely none other than mine (which look different). So if there were any missing, they were definitely not in my house.

I thought that might be the end of it but she emailed again the next day telling me to come to the council offices "immediately" with the litter pickers (I said I was working in an office so that wasn't possible at the moment). I reiterated that I didn't have the litter pickers. She insisted that I did and asked me "what was I going to do about it?"

I replied that as a gesture of goodwill I was happy to pay for some replacement litter pickers and the council should feel free to invoice me for them (you can get a bag of 8 for £20 from Amazon so they're not hugely expensive). Radio silence then ensued.

Three or four weeks later she has just emailed me again today to insist that I "urgently" go to the council offices with the missing litter pickers. I reiterated again that I don't have them, that I'm happy to reimburse the council for the cost of the litter pickers but I can't leave my job in the middle of the working day to be summoned by the council waste services department. She's just sent a follow-up saying "Please come to XXX today with the missing litter pickers or there will be serious consequences."

Am I being naive or is this completely over the top? The drama and the borderline harassment over something so trivial in the scheme of things councils have to deal with, and the suggestion that I'm a thief just feels really aggressive. I know councils are very cash-strapped and people do take the mick so maybe I'm naive, it just seems a wildly disproportionate response.

No: in total there were only four of us: me, my DP and two other people, both of whom brought their own: they do it regularly. I used mine and DP used the one from the council bag (which was returned).

One of the other two people didn’t come into the house and the other did only to use the toilet and left with his litter picker. There’s no way either of them would have nicked one from the bag.

I agree with the poster who suggested forwarding the correspondence to your local councillor. This is literally (sorry, litter pun not intdended) what your councillor is paid to do i.e. help his/her constituents with local problems.

I'd keep it super polite, but gently play the 'volunteer litter pickers getting stick from jobsworth' card - obviously with politer phrasing.

Good luck! As you said OP, no good deed goes unpunished.

I would ask for her managers email. Or of there is a generic contact number call and find that out.
Calmly send her email to he manager and clarify what happened. That you returned all litter pickers lent to you and you wish this matter to be closed/finished
Don't mention - paying for anything you didn't take, that you pay council tax so their wages/litter pickers etc or that they need better systems.
The manager should sort it. If not follow the complaints procedure which should be clearly on their website with details of timescales etc

Don't engage further with this little Hitler's wife. A nobody employed by a random council thinking she is going to send people to prison for silly litter picks.

Yep I think this is the way to go.

I haven’t had a reply after the last “summons” so possibly this is the end of it and if they invoice me I don’t mind paying.

But if theres any more threats I will take it upstairs.

‘Or there will be consequences’ Really???

If you feel that way, which is obviously fine, why offer new ones?! You've said you would buy new ones! Have you asked the volunteers, just in case they took them home by mistake? If not, I'd be inclined to buy some off amazon to end it now.

Maybe we could all hold a moment silence for the fact that somewhere, a council employee is foaming at the mouth and threatening unspecified serious consequences for this perceived major crime. Something bad has happened to this person to lead to this....thoughts and prayers 🌈🙏

If this is true, she's nuts. Just ignore her.

Perhaps they mixed up the people collecting them/which bag was going where and it's the other person they should be chasing. If any are genuinely missing that is.

@GAJLY honestly I just wanted to get them off my back. I have said several times on here that I accept this was a mistake.

I don’t mind paying but I don’t have time to faff about buying the stuff: I need the time more than the money.

I am certain no one else took them. The other people had their own and didn’t need them. (And I have checked).

@Thepeopleversuswork What a nightmare. I would clearly ask for evidence of how many were sent to you. But also refuse to pay because you are innocent.
The email to the manager is the way to go.
I hope this doesn't stop you doing good deeds -because of one agressive person.

It is tempting to wait and see what the consequences are. If you do, please report back and tell us all.

What I would probably do is phone and speak to someone in charge.

Are you sure you picked up the right bag when you collected them? e.g. perhaps the other bag had 15 and not 20? So although you returned the full amount, they thought you had the other bag full.

The person emailing you is an absolute jobsworth. No common sense whatsoever and I'd be really annoyed that they have spent tax payers money on their time sending such pointless and unprofessional emails.

I would email once more!

Dear <person>.

On X date I borrowed a bag of litter pickers for a local litter pick. The team of litter pickers ended up bringing their own litter pickers, so only one of the borrowed ones was used and then returned to the bag, which was returned to you on X date.

I am a little confused as to why I have been sent four emails demanding the return of litter pickers that I do not have.

In addition to this, the emails received have become been somewhat threatening and rather unprofessional, not to mention a complete waste of council tax funds to have someone sending so many emails when I have already offered to buy you some more litter pickers as a gesture of good will.

I would therefore like the details of your senior manager please so that this matter can be resolved.

You

Tell her you will not be engaging any further over email as you feel like she is harassing you. Ask her to provide evidence of how many you collected and how many you returned - if you did not count and sign she will not have this. Tell her all future correspondence should be via post. Then block her email address.

I'd write back in and reiterate your side of the story again- that you don't have them and you never did.

I'd also say that you haven't appreciated the tone and persistence of the emails that youve been reviewing from the council and that you'd like your email to be treated as a complaint in line with their complaints process.

Keep it factual and to the point, but asking for your concern to be dealt with in line with their complaints process will probably bring a very sharp halt to the emails.

Even more so if you copy your local councillor in as well.

she’s so desperate to get you in, in person.. is anyone else thinking surprise party / you-are-a-super-litter-picker award??

Did you sign for them? What is her evidence for how many she claims you had?

Dear [Name],

I am writing in response to your recent emails alleging that I am in possession of council-owned litter pickers and demanding that I attend the council offices “immediately.”

To be absolutely clear: I returned all equipment borrowed from the council following the community litter pick. I borrowed only one litter picker, which was placed back into the original bag with the rest and returned in full. I have since rechecked my property and can confirm categorically that I do not have any council equipment in my possession.

Your continued assertions that I am withholding council property are entirely unfounded and, if persisted with, may be construed as harassment. I am more than willing to cooperate reasonably, but I will not attend the council offices in person without clear justification or evidence of any wrongdoing.

As previously stated, and purely as a gesture of goodwill, I remain willing to reimburse the council for the cost of replacement litter pickers if you genuinely believe some are missing. Please issue a formal invoice if that is the preferred course of action.

Otherwise, I consider this matter closed. I request that all further correspondence be made in writing. Should further unfounded demands or threats of “serious consequences” continue, I will have no choice but to escalate this matter through the council’s complaints procedure and, if necessary, seek advice regarding harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

Yours sincerely,

Just make a formal complaint to the council via the complaints process. Include the emails, tell them you are being harassed, that you offered to replace,even though you had not lost them as you only used one that you returned with the rest and due to the harassment that offer of replacement has been rescinded.

Dear [Name],
I am writing in response to your recent emails alleging that I am in possession of council-owned litter pickers and demanding that I attend the council offices “immediately.”....

Much too long. Just do what pp said and forward the whole correspondence to own local councillor and councillor responsible for that department.

I really try not to draw conclusions about people based on their occupations but it seems to play to every stereotype about local councils and the pettiness, incompetence and downright irrelevance of what they do. I know not everyone in local government is like this but it’s fairly breathtaking that someone has the time or energy to go on a vendetta over some plastic grabbers

A wise approach, @Thepeopleversuswork
As you rightly suggest they can't all be like this, but IME there are far too many with so little to do that they have to "busy" themselves with nonsense like this

Like the reception at our own local office, where they have three people to point you to the DIY "choose a service and take a ticket machine" and two more to point out that the very obvious (but still massively signposted) waiting area is, in fact, a waiting area

Oh well then. Unless the bag you picked up had your name on it with the amount of pickers (or any paperwork) then you might have been given the wrong bag and it's the other person they should be chasing. Ask them for proof of how many they gave you, and keep telling them you returned the same amount you were given. If you returned 15, then they only gave you 15. Maybe the other bag had the extra 5. Throw the onus of proof back at them.

To be honest someone might have bagged them up correctly but another council worker could have taken some out for themselves/another group thinking the bags were being returned. Have they cctv proof that another worker hadn't tampered with the bin bags before your arrival?

What a pita though.

What a psycho 😭😭

Probably some recent graduate terrified of getting in trouble. Straight to the manager imo x

Thanks all. Relieved to hear most of you don’t think I have gone mad!