Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to close access to Mr X’s road which led to the cancellation of an appointment unnecessarily when the work was not completed. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council informing him that the road outside his home was to be re-surfaced which resulted in him having to cancel a pre-booked appointment by a contractor. He says the works were not carried out as advised and this resulted in him incurring £132 costs for the cancelled appointment when it could have been carried out. He wants the Council to re-imburse him for his loss.

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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
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(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’s response.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X says the Council ‘s contractors informed him that the road outside his home was to be re-surfaced after he had arranged for a contractor to repair his car wheels outside his home. He cancelled the appointment, incurring a £132 fee for the cancellation. He says the section outside his home was not resurfaced when the contractors were in the area and this caused unnecessary loss.
6. The Council says it has no record of what Advice its contractors gave at the time but that works in a particular area are subject to local conditions and how much of the surface filling can be carried out in an area cannot always be specific.
7. There is no statutory requirement for a highway authority to re-imburse adjacent landowners for loss of access sor loss of business due to highway repairs. There is no right in England to park on the roadside and this is only permitted where highway regulations are not in place. The highway authority can close a highway for repairs and this does not always require the work to be carrier out within a specific timeframe.
8. Whilst it is unfortunate that Mr X had to cancel his appointment there was no requirement for the Council to offer him compensation.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to close access to Mr X’s road which led to the cancellation of an appointment unnecessarily when the work was not completed. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman