London Borough of Haringey (25 013 356)
Category : Other Categories > Leisure and culture
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 08 Oct 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to reimburse Miss X for her lost possessions left at a local leisure centre. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to result in finding fault with the Council’s actions.
The complaint
- Miss X complained staff at a local leisure centre removed her personal items from a padlocked locker without her consent.
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 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, or
- we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the Miss X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X left some personal items in a padlocked locker at a local leisure centre and complained when these items were removed.
- The Council conducted an internal review and spoke with the general manager on site. The manager confirmed the items were removed when they were transferring facilities between locations.
- The Council apologised but advised that there were signs in the locker rooms informing customers not to leave personal belongings in the lockers overnight or they would be removed.
- Miss X remains unhappy with the situation and wants us to find the Council at fault. The leisure centre where the belongings were misplaced has a policy of removing items left overnight in lockers. The Council has followed its policy. There is no evidence of wrongdoing in the Council’s actions. An investigation would therefore be unlikely to lead to a finding of fault on the Council’s part.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to result in finding fault with the Council’s actions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman