Derbyshire County Council (19 016 291)
Category : Transport and highways > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 06 Jan 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council will not compensate him for damage caused to his car by a pothole. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to resort to court action for the compensation he seeks and the complaint is therefore outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council will not compensate him for damage caused to his car by a pothole.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered what Mr X said in his complaint and his response to my draft decision.
What I found
- Mr X complains the Council has refused to pay for repairs to his car which were needed after it was damaged by a pothole.
Assessment
- The Ombudsman cannot determine if the Council is legally liable for the damage caused to Mr X’s car or whether it should pay compensation. Ultimately, only the courts can do this. There is a low cost procedure open to anyone to make a money claim through the courts or Mr X could consider using a ‘no win no fee’ solicitor.
- For these reasons, it is reasonable to expect Mr X to resort to court action and the complaint is therefore outside our legal remit and we will not investigate
Final decision
- My decision is that the Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because it is reasonable to expect Mr X to seek a remedy through the courts and the complaint is therefore outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit.
Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman