Durham County Council (20 010 757)

Category : Other Categories > Leisure and culture

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 04 Mar 2021

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: On the evidence currently available, we will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council pursuing her for outstanding fees as she had cancelled her leisure centre membership early due to the closure of the swimming pool. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply. There is also insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

  1. Miss X complains about the Council’s decision to close its leisure centre’s swimming pool for repairs between May 2019 and October 2019. Miss X cancelled her 12-month membership early due to the pool closure. She would like her outstanding debt cleared. Miss X says this has caused her stress and worry.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
  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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered the information Miss X and the Council provided. I also considered the terms and conditions of Miss X’s membership contract which is available on the Council’s website. Miss X had the opportunity to comment on the draft version of this decision.

Back to top

What I found

  1. Miss X joined the Council’s leisure centre in March 2019 because she wanted to use the swimming pool. Miss X’s membership was for 12 months which allowed her to have access to the gym and the swimming pool.
  2. The leisure centre closed its swimming pool between May 2019 and October 2019 due to repairs. Due to the inconvenience this would have caused, the leisure centre allowed members to use a swimming pool at another Council leisure centre, waiving the standard £1 fee.
  3. Miss X decided to cancel her membership in September 2019 because she could not use the swimming pool which was the main reason for her joining the leisure centre. Miss X did not want to use a swimming pool at another leisure centre because it was too far away.
  4. Miss X believed she was entitled to cancel her membership under the Council’s Fair Cancellation policy. Under this policy, it states the Council will consider the cancellation of a membership within the first 12 months of a membership for certain reasons including a breach of a contract. A breach of a contract includes not providing facilities or services which may reasonably be expected by a member.
  5. The Council stated it does have a Fair Cancellation policy however Miss X’s membership was a gym membership which entitled her to use the swimming pool in addition. It said its policy did not entitle her to cancel.
  6. Under the terms and conditions of Miss X’s membership contract, it says:
  • “Unlimited gym use during opening times, swimming - where available - during general swimming times and fitness classes”.
  • “It is at the discretion of the centre management team to close any of the facilities or limit their usage, should the centre venue become used for major events, refurbishment or emergency repairs/maintenance. No refund will be given in such circumstances and the management team shall endeavour to give reasonable notice of any change, lengthening or shortening of such hours”.
  1. Miss X pursued this matter with the leisure centre between 2019 and 2020. She said she sent an e-mail to the leisure centre in January 2020 and had not received a response. The Council issued a final response to Miss X in January 2020. Miss X acknowledged this response within days and asked how she could pay the remainder of her contract. The Council provided her with a contact number shortly after.
  2. In January 2021, Miss X received a letter from a debt collection company regarding the outstanding payment of her membership. She then complained to us.

Back to top

Analysis

  1. Miss X has known the Council had refused the membership cancellation since September 2019. This is more than 12 months ago. There are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply because:
  1. The Council provided Miss X with a final response in January 2020 and made her aware she could complain to us if she was not satisfied with its response. Miss X had acknowledged receiving the Council’s final response.
  2. It took her 12 months from the date of the Council’s final response to complain to us and has not actively pursued the matter in the meantime.
  1. Furthermore, there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to justify pursuing the complaint further because the evidence shows the Council acted in line with the terms and conditions of Miss X’s contract.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. We will not investigate this complaint because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply. There is also insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings