Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to take sufficient action against anti-social behaviour by youths in his area. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council which has caused injustice to Mr X.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council’s failure to prevent anti-social behaviour from youths on his estate. He says he suffered intimidation and he injured himself when chasing youths from the scene.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered all the information which Mr X submitted with his complaint. I have also considered the Council’s response.

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What I found

5. Mr X says he suffered abuse from local youths when he confronted them about their behaviour. Later his property was hit by eggs. On one occasion he chased the youths and sustained a muscle injury from his exertions. He reported the matter to the Police but said they did not respond until after the injury incident. He subsequently complained to the Council about its failure to prevent anti-social behaviour in the area.
6. The Council told him that it had been working with the Police on his estate to tackle anti-social behaviour. It has issued anti-social behaviour contracts to some identified perpetrators but cannot prevent the actions of others. It accepted that it delayed forwarding his original complaint to the Anti-social Behaviour Team. However, this was several weeks after the incident so it could not have prevented it occurring. Mr X made a claim for compensation which the Council has sent to its insurers.
7. The Ombudsman cannot investigate claims about personal injury related to alleged negligence. These are private matters which can only be determined by insurers or the courts. The Council could not have prevented the incidents occurring because they were not reported until after they happened and after the Police were involved.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council which has caused injustice to Mr X.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman