London Borough of Hillingdon (19 008 903)
Category : Transport and highways > Highway repair and maintenance
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 28 Oct 2019
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about grass being left on the complainant’s car after the Council has cut the highway verge. The alleged fault by the Council has not caused the complainant a significant injustice.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr B, says grass and dirt is deposited on his car when the Council cuts the highway verge. He says he spends a minimum of 60 minutes of his time having his car cleaned, at a cost of £10, each time this happens.
- Mr B thinks the Council could easily use a blower to remove the debris from his car.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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:
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered:
- Mr B’s complaint to the Ombudsman;
- The Council’s response to Mr B’s complaint;
- Mr B’s comments on a draft version of this statement, and the associated supporting documents he submitted.
What I found
- I appreciate it is frustrating and inconvenient when debris is deposited on Mr B’s car, and that he then spends time and money on having his car cleaned.
- However, with reference to paragraph 3 above, I am not persuaded the extent of this injustice is so significant as to warrant the Ombudsman using its limited resources to pursue the matter further.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint. This is because the personal injustice arising from the alleged fault by the Council is not significant enough to justify our continued involvement in the matter.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman