Summary: We will not investigate X’s complaint about her child’s taxi transport. She says the drivers have not transported her child in a safe manner. This is because an investigation would not lead to any worthwhile outcomes as the Council has already provided an appropriate remedy.

The complaint

1. X complains about her child’s taxi transport. She says the drivers have not transported her child to their day centre in a safe manner.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

5. X does not use titles. We have respected this and have used a singular letter to refer to her in this decision.
6. X’s child, Z, uses a wheelchair. She complained the taxi driver who transports them to their day centre was not positioning Z correctly in the vehicle and was not bolting the wheelchair down safely.
7. The manager of the taxi company confirmed taxis have different number of anchor points and that their taxis had two anchor points. The manager confirmed this was safe. The driver also confirmed both anchor points were used to transport Z.
8. During its complaint investigation, the Council spoke with staff from the day centre who confirmed they witnessed Z’s wheelchair being appropriately positioned in the vehicle and secured before the journey started. The Council also arranged for the day centre staff to carry out discreet observations. No concerns were raised by staff following these observations.
9. X says the day centre staff lied and that she had video footage to evidence Z had been positioned in the taxi inappropriately. I have not seen the video footage and it is not clear if X had shared the video footage with the Council.
10. It is unlikely we would make any findings on whether the day centre staff had lied about what they witness. However, even if we were to find fault based on X’s video footage, an investigation is not justified. This is because the Council has already provided an appropriate remedy to put right the injustice caused by the claimed fault as it has arranged for a new taxi provider to transport Z to and from the day centre. X confirmed she is happy with the new provider and has no complaints about the way they transport Z.

Back to top

Final decision

11. We will not investigate X’s complaint because an investigation would not lead to any worthwhile outcomes as the Council has already provided an appropriate remedy.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman