Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Authority's refusal to consider her nuisance complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Authority and her complaint is late.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained to the Authority about nuisance caused by the London Fire Brigade. The Authority has refused to accept complaints from Mrs X about this issue because it has previously investigated and responded to the matter on four separate occasions.
2. Mrs X says the nuisance has had a profound impact on her mental and physical health. She wants the Authority to resolve the nuisance.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something an authority has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Authority.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The evidence I have seen shows the Authority has investigated and responded to Mrs X’s nuisance complaints on four separate occasions over a 10-year period. Mrs X’s recent nuisance complaint to the Authority appears to raise the same issues addressed in her prior complaints. Therefore, I consider it is open to the Authority to refuse her complaint when it has already addressed her concerns in detail. There is not enough evidence of fault on this point to justify us investigating.
9. Mrs X’s prior nuisance complaints are late. If she was dissatisfied with the outcome of those complaints then it would have been reasonable for her to complain to us at the time. I see no good reason why she could not have complained to us sooner and therefore I will not investigate her prior nuisance complaints.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault and it is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman