Cornwall Council (19 004 202)
Category : Environment and regulation > Licensing
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 08 Aug 2019
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about problems she experienced with hiring a beach hut for one day. This is because Ms X is not caused a significant injustice from her complaint.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains about various issues she experienced after she hired a beach hut from the Council.
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 Ms X said in her complaint and her comments made in response to my draft decision.
What I found
- Ms X paid £15 to hire a beach hut for one day. Ms X realised the beach hut would not be suitable for her family for safety reasons, but complains the Council refused to refund the money she had paid or swap the booking. Ms X complains the Council failed to alert her to its terms and conditions when she booked the hut.
- Ms X was able to book an alternative hut and the Council has since offered to refund the £15 she originally paid.
Analysis
- Ms X is not caused a level of injustice from her complaint to warrant our involvement. We will not therefore investigate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate as Ms X is not caused a level of injustice from her complaint to warrant our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman