Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the cancellation of the complainant’s Freedom Pass. The level of injustice to the complainant does not justify the Ombudsman’s involvement.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr B, is registered blind and has a Freedom Pass issued by London Councils. He says the Council wrongly cancelled this when it found his current address was different to the one where the Freedom Pass was registered.
2. Mr B says he was without the Freedom Pass for about four weeks and had to use another means of payment. He estimates he spent about £20 on fares during this time.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’.
4. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe any the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered what Mr B said in his complaint and discussed it with him. I also discussed the background with London Councils. Mr B commented on a draft decision

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What I found

6. The Freedom Pass scheme operates in Greater London and allows people over 60 or with a disability to travel free on public transport. It is coordinated by London Councils, a body that represents all the local authorities in Greater London.
7. Mr B moved home in August 2017. Under the terms and conditions of the Freedom Pass he should have provided evidence of his new address to London Councils. I understand it is possible to do this through the relevant borough council. Mr B says when he informed the Council by phone about the move, it told him he did not have to do anything about his Freedom Pass.
8. Around July 2019, the Council carried out a check and found Mr B’s address was not the same as where his Freedom Pass was registered. It therefore cancelled the pass.
9. Mr B complained to the Council which organised a replacement. It said it could not establish what Mr B was told in 2017 because it no longer had recordings of phone calls.
10. While we cannot be certain what he was told, there is no reason to doubt Mr B did contact the Council about his move. It seems possible the Council could have acted on the information he provided but did not do so. Nevertheless, I do not consider any fault caused Mr B injustice that would justify our further involvement.

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Final decision

11. I have decided we will not investigate this complaint. Any fault did not prevent Mr B travelling while he was without the Freedom Pass and the financial cost to him was not great. I do not consider any injustice that may have been caused to Mr B justifies the use of our resources to investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman