Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (20 005 551)
Category : Transport and highways > Street furniture and lighting
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 19 Nov 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about two broken street lights. The lights have been repaired and there is insufficient remaining injustice to Miss X to warrant our involvement.
The complaint
- Miss X complains about delay by the Council in repairing two broken street lights.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered what Miss X said in her complaint. I have sent Miss X my draft decision for her comments. Miss X made no further comments.
What I found
- Miss X complains about delay by the Council in repairing two broken street lights.
- The Council says one light was reported as faulty on 31/7/20 and repaired on 20/8/20. The second was reported on 1/9/20 and repaired on 14/9/20.
Analysis
- Both lights are now repaired and we cannot add to this. There is insufficient remaining injustice to Miss X to warrant our involvement.
Final decision
- My decision is that the Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint as the remaining injustice to Miss X is not sufficient to warrant our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman