Staffordshire County Council (24 018 073)

Category : Transport and highways > Highway repair and maintenance

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 30 Jan 2025

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about pothole damage as this is a matter for the courts.

The complaint

  1. Mr X complains his car was damaged by a pothole and the Council has denied liability for this. Mr X is pursuing this via a solicitor but says the Council is not responding to the solicitor. Mr X wants his costs to be reimbursed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
  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)
  3. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection/information rights. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. Damage claims can only be determined in court and there is a relatively low cost, simple procedure open to anyone to make a money claim in court. As such, it is reasonable to expect Mr X to take such action for the financial recompense he seeks.
  2. I recognise that Mr X complains that the Council is not responding to contact from his solicitor. However, as we cannot determine the substantive matter, it would not be a good use of our limited resources to investigate this complaint in isolation. In addition, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the UK's independent regulator in respect of access to information rights and is best placed to address any alleged failings by the Council to provide information that has been requested.
  3. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because this matter is essentially for the courts and the ICO can respond to a complaint about a failure to provide information requested.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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