Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council’s delays dealing with an abandoned car near his home. The fault Mr B claims has not caused him a significant personal injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr B says the Council took over two years to deal with his reports of an abandoned vehicle near his home. Mr B says he had to chase the Council, which failed to act and failed to reply to him.

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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 the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by Mr B and asked him to clarify where the car was parked and the impact this had on him. I sent a draft decision to Mr B and considered the comments he made in reply before I made my final decision.

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What I found

4. Mr B has explained the car was abandoned in September 2017 and he reported it to the Council. Mr B chased the Council for a response and for it to take action to remove the car. By November 2019, the car was still in the same place and Mr B raised another complaint, this time through his ward councillor. The Council finally placed a seven-day warning letter on the vehicle in January 2020 and removed the vehicle 10 days later.
5. It is clear it took the Council a long time to deal with this matter and this may be fault. But the Ombudsman will not investigate a complaint where the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. I have asked Mr B to clarify what effect the abandoned vehicle had on him, as it is not visible as being parked near to his home from Google Street View images taken during the time Mr B was in contact with the Council. Mr B has not provided this information and there is no evidence of a significant personal injustice to Mr B.
6. The Ombudsman has a general discretion whether to start an investigation and will not investigate a Council’s complaints handling as a separate issue if we are not investigating the substantive issue.

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Final decision

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the fault Mr B claims has not caused him a significant personal injustice.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman