City of York Council (22 008 647)
Category : Transport and highways > Highway repair and maintenance
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 06 Oct 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about street numbering. This is because any fault has not caused him a significant personal injustice.
The complaint
- Mr Y complained the Council has poorly numbered the houses on his housing estate which he says has been misnamed. Mr Y says it is confusing and he worries about the local emergency services being able to find properties easily.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information Mr Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr Y complained to the Council about the street numbering in Autumn 2021. The Council responded in October 2021 and in September 2022 which denied any fault. Mr Y approached us in September.
Analysis
- Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered a serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss of injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
- In this case, Mr Y has not suffered a serious injustice, so we will not investigate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr Y's complaint because any fault has not caused him a significant personal injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman