Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the way the Council considered her report to trading standards about a trader. We have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions. Also, Mrs X can ask the small claims court to decide whether the trader is responsible for her financial loss, thereby remedying her claimed injustice.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council failed to carry out a suitable investigation into her complaint. She says:
• The investigation failed to meet basic statutory and professional standards.
• The Council ignored evidence of misleading advertising and warranty misrepresentation. It also failed to provide a full response which blocked Mrs X’s access to a financial remedy; and
• The Council failed to exercise powers under Regulation 21 to get trader documentation or assess breaches.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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))

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 considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Regulation 19 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 places a duty on every enforcement authority to enforce the Regulations.
7. However, it also says:

“(4) In determining how to comply with its duty of enforcement every enforcement authority shall have regard to the desirability of encouraging control of unfair commercial practices by such established means as it considers appropriate having regard to all the circumstances of the particular case.”

8. Therefore the Council has discretion into how it complies with the requirement to enforce the regulations.
9. In this case the Council decided that the traders claim of a full-service history on the car Mrs X bought was the most feasible route for showing whether a criminal offence had occurred. This is a decision the Council is entitled to make.
10. Mrs X also complains the Council failed to exercise its powers to obtain documents from the trader. However, while the Regulations state the Council may require a trader to produce documents there is no requirement for it to do so.
11. I understand Mrs X’s bank refuses to assist her with her claim without findings from a Trading Standards investigation. However, this is not the fault of the Council. As explained above, it is entitled to decide how it will enforce the Regulations. Also, it is open to Mrs X to make a claim against the trader in the small claims court herself if she considers them responsible for her financial losses. The small claims court provides a relatively straightforward process for seeking compensation in such circumstances which is it reasonable to expect her to use.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because:
• There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions; and
• Mrs X can ask the small claims court to decide whether the trader is responsible for her financial loss.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman