Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s response to his request to remove an oil spillage on the road. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation. Also, the matter complained about has not caused Mr X any significant personal injustice which is serious enough to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s response to his report of an oil spillage on the road. He says the Council sent out a street sweeper after about 28 days but he cannot see that any effort was made to clean it up as the oil and stain remained on the road.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X reported an oil leak on the road and asked the Council to remove it. He complained to the Council about its response to his request. He said the oil stain remained after the Council had attended to remove it.
6. The Council confirmed its road sweeping contractor had attended and removed the oil as requested. It explained that the stain can remain on the road following the removal of the oil but that this would not impact road safety. It noted Mr X remained dissatisfied with its response and signposted him to this office.
7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council here to warrant an investigation. The Council has confirmed it attended and removed the oil. Whilst the stain remains this is not evidence of fault by the Council.
8. Further to this, the matter complained about has not caused Mr X any significant personal injustice which is so serious that it warrants a further investigation by this office. We do not investigate every complaint we receive and we must focus our limited public resources on investigating those complaints where a person has suffered a significant personal injustice as a result of fault by the Council. Whilst I acknowledge Mr X is dissatisfied with the Council’s response, this is not the case here.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and the matter has not caused Mr X any significant personal injustice which is serious enough to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman