Tees Valley Combined Authority (22 004 795)
Category : Other Categories > Leisure and culture
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 12 Oct 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Ms X’s claim for a refund and compensation from the Council for its involvement in a mismanaged air show event. This is because Ms X has not been caused injustice sufficient to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to as Ms X, says the Council should refund her ticket costs and pay compensation because of its involvement with a mismanaged air show event it was involved in sponsoring and promoting. She says she was stuck in traffic chaos as a result of the mismanagement and could not get to the event incurring petrol costs and wasting time spent in traffic.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Ms X, including the Council’s response to her complaint.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X complained to the Council that she had been unable to attend an air show event it had been involved with because of traffic chaos caused by mismanagement of the event.
- The Council advised Ms X that the event organiser was dealing with ticket refunds and explained how to claim her refund.
- While Ms X is not satisfied with the Council’s response and seeks a full refund from the Council along with compensation for petrol and her time spent in traffic, this is not a complaint we will investigate.
- We do not investigate every complaint we receive. Ms X can apply to receive a refund from the organisers and the remaining injustice is insufficient to warrant a formal investigation by the Ombudsman.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because Ms X has not been caused injustice sufficient to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman