Douglas City Council’s imposition of an unacceptable behaviour ban against a persistent complainant amounted to maladministration, the ombudsman has found.

The case involves a resident who protested about overflowing bins at the Rosemount pub on Woodbourne Road by wheeling one to Douglas Town Hall.

Mark Wheeler, who is not named in the ombudsman’s report, claimed the back of his home had been turned into a ‘pigsty’.

He maintained the problem had been created by the council’s change to fortnightly refuse collections.

However, the bins, sited permanently in the back lane on land owned by the brewery, are actually emptied weekly by a private contractor.

In June last year, after three months of exchanges with the council, Mr Wheeler decided to wheel an empty Rosemount bin to the town hall.

Having sent 49 emails about the issue to the town hall, at an average of 4.5 per week, the complainant received a letter from the chief executive the following month, telling him his correspondence was ‘excessive’ and that officers had been instructed officers not to respond any further on this topic unless new information was submitted.

The chief executive said they were also aware of the derogatory comments made by the complainant on social media and asked that they considered the impact this was having on staff.

A copy of the council’s unacceptable behaviour policy was attached to the letter. Mr Wheeler complained about the content of the letter and vowed to continue emailing the town hall, insisting: ‘You are totally failing to take any action and turning the back of my property into an eyesore.’

He said he had never posted offensive remarks on social media.

He also complained to the Tynwald Commissioner for Administration, also known as the Tynwald Ombudsman.

His previous complaint to the ombudsman about the fortnightly bin collections was rejected on the grounds that he and his wife had failed to show that they had suffered hardship or injustice.

The then Commissioner Angela Main Thompson said the issue of the bins at the pub was not a matter for the town hall but a private dispute with the brewery.

But her successor Paul Beckett has made a finding of maldadministration against the local authority over its handling of its unacceptable behaviour policy.

In a report to be laid before the October sitting of Tynwald, Mr Beckett concluded the procedure does not engage with the person complained of or provide any opportunity to respond - and the council had failed to meet a reasonable desire for natural justice.

Mr Beckett found that the wheelie bin incident evidenced did not pose a threat to town hall staff.

And he concluded the imposition of penalties simply on the basis of social media postings was incompatible with the right to freedom of expression.