Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that she has been put to time and trouble due to what she sees as the failings of the Council’s ‘Fix My Street’ reporting system. This is because Mrs X’s injustice is not sufficient to warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains she has been put to time and trouble in order to find out the outcome of a report she made to the Council about an abandoned car. Mrs X feels the Council’s online reporting system is not fit for purpose and is a waste of council tax payers’ money.

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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)
3. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered what Mrs X said in her complaint and the comments she made in response to my draft decision on it, which I sent to her.

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What I found

5. Mrs X reported what she thought was an abandoned vehicle to the Council using its online reporting system, ‘Fix My Street’. Mrs X complains the system does not provide any updates as to what action has been taken and she has been put to time and trouble chasing this matter up. Mrs X feels the system is a waste of council tax payers’ money.
6. The Council has acknowledged there are some issues with its system but that it is working on improvements.
7. In its complaint responses to Mrs X, the Council explained that when Mrs X first reported the vehicle, it was not deemed to be abandoned and still had valid road tax. The Council did however subsequently remove the vehicle due to the road tax not being renewed.

Analysis

8. Mrs X has spent some time pursuing this with the Council but this does not represent a level of injustice that would warrant our involvement.
9. We cannot by law investigate complaints which allege a waste of council tax payer’s money as we are unable to look at matters which impact all or most of the people in a council area.
10. For these reasons we will not investigate.

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Final decision

11. My decision is that we will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mrs X is not caused sufficient personal injustice to warrant our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman