Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council terminating a school transport contract with short notice. It is unlikely we would find fault by the Council, and if the complainant believes the Council has breached the terms of the contract it would be reasonable for her to take the matter to court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs B, says the Council failed to give her business sufficient notice of the termination of a contract for the provision of a school bus route service. She says this caused her business financial hardship, as she had to continue paying her drivers despite receiving no income for the bus route, and she missed out on applying for other tenders.

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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. We 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 it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The law also 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 have considered:
• Mrs B’s complaint submissions to the Ombudsman;
• The complaint correspondence between Mrs B and the Council;
• The contract signed by Mrs B’s business and the associated ‘Standard and Special Terms and Conditions’ documents;
• Mrs B’s comments on a draft version of this statement.

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What I found

Summary of what happened

5. Mrs B’s business had a contract with the Council to provide a home to school bus route service.
6. The Standard Terms and Conditions contained a clause which says:

“The Council reserves the right to terminate the Contract at will, in whole or in part, at any time with or without notice except that it will give as much notice as possible in the circumstances.”

7. I understand the Council undertook a review exercise in early-August 2019, to see if the bus route should be split into two, as there was a concern it was bordering on being too long for the children. No changes were found to be necessary, as there was not an even split between journeys and so efficiencies could not be gained.
8. However, on 22 August, the Council informed Mrs B that her business would have to re-tender for the bus route service they provided. This was because the Council had now received five more applications for Special Educational Needs transport to the school, so the bus routes needed to be amended to make the journeys as cost effective as possible. The closing date for the tenders was likely to be 28 August.
9. Mrs B and the Council continued to correspond, particularly with regard to when the notice was served and the duration of the notice period.
10. Mrs B’s business chose not to retender for the amended routes.

Assessment

11. I do not consider the Ombudsman should investigate this complaint.
12. In signing the lease agreement with the Council, Mrs B agreed to be bound by its terms, including the notice clause which the Council has now exercised. If Mrs B felt the terms were unacceptable or unreasonable she did not have to agree to them.
13. The clause detailed in paragraph 6 above appears to enable the Council to terminate the contract with limited notice, so it is unlikely we would find fault in its actions. If, however, Mrs B believes the Council has breached the terms of the contract it also seems reasonable to expect her to pursue the matter in court.

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Final decision

14. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault by the Council, and if she believes the Council has breached the terms of the contract it would be reasonable for her to pursue the matter in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman