Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the suspension of London Underground rail services on the Waterloo and City line in 2022. This is because the issue did not cause Mr X significant enough injustice to warrant investigation. Mr X may wish to refer the matter to London Travelwatch to consider further.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains Transport for London (TfL) suspended services along a London Underground (tube) line in 2022, making him late for a connecting train and delaying his journey. He says the suspension of services and TfL’s poor handling of his complaint caused him stress and inconvenience.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
5. I understand Mr X was inconvenienced by the suspension of services on the tube line and experienced some stress relating to his connecting train but this is not a significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.
6. Mr X is also unhappy with the way the authority dealt with his complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the authority’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.
7. Because the matters raised in Mr X’s complaint are not issues which we will consider further Mr X may wish to refer the complaint to London Travelwatch. London Travelwatch was set up specifically to deal with issues concerning public passenger transport services operated and licensed by TfL and it is better placed to consider this complaint.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the injustice Mr X claims from TfL’s actions is not significant enough injustice to warrant investigation. London Travelwatch would therefore be better placed to consider the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman