Summary: Ms X complains about the treatment of the staff at a Council gym. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient injustice to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the treatment of the staff at a Council gym.

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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:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• 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 have considered the comments of the complainant and the Council and the complainant has had an opportunity to comment on the draft decision.,

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What I found

4. Ms X says that Council staff at a gym were rude to her when she used a gym.
5. The Council says that she was told that she had to leave the gym as it was closing.
6. I appreciate that Ms X felt upset by the conversations she had with the staff but, in the absence of any independent evidence, the Ombudsman would not be able to conclude satisfactorily that the staff had been rude to her.
7. Nevertheless, I am not persuaded that the injustice claimed by Ms X would warrant investigation.

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Final decision

8. I will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman