Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council will not compensate her for damage caused to her car by a pothole. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to resort to court action for the compensation she seeks and the complaint is therefore outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains the Council will not compensate her for damage caused to her car by a pothole.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered what Ms X said in her complaint.

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What I found

4. Ms X complains the Council will not compensate her for damage caused to her car by a pothole.

Assessment

5. The Ombudsman cannot determine if the Council is legally liable for the damage caused to Ms X’s car or whether it should pay compensation. Ultimately, only the courts can do this. There is a low cost procedure open to anyone to make a money claim through the courts or Ms X could consider using a ‘no win no fee’ solicitor.
6. For these reasons, it is reasonable to expect Ms X to resort to court action and the complaint is therefore outside our legal remit and we will not investigate

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Final decision

7. My decision is that the Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because it is reasonable to expect Ms X to resort to court action for the compensation she seeks, and the complaint is therefore outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman