Bristol City Council (23 013 713)
Category : Transport and highways > Highway repair and maintenance
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 15 Jan 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the camber of the road outside his home. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains there is excessive camber on the road outside his property. He says this has caused damage to his car; difficulty accessing his driveway and occupants cannot enter or exit the vehicle without being hit by the car door.
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 do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X first complained to the Council about this matter in 2020 and again in 2023. The Council signposted Mr X to this office in both its 2020 and 2023 final responses to his complaints.
- This complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of the person affected first becoming aware of the matter. Mr X has clearly been aware of the matter since at least 2020 and he was signposted to us then. I see no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider this very late complaint now over three years later.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and I see no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman