Reading Borough Council (24 010 574)
Category : Transport and highways > Public transport
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 10 Jun 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council did not send him a disability bus pass, causing him to incur costs. The Council has sent a bus pass and agreed to pay Mr X’s costs. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council did not send him a new disability bus pass in August 2024 and ignored his complaints. He wants the Council to send him the bus pass and reimburse his costs.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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:
- 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))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In October 2024 the Council responded to Mr X’s complaints. It said it had sent a bus pass to the address on file. However, as a goodwill gesture should Mr X not have received it, it would pay his costs of £135.70 and £100 for the time and trouble he spent complaining. It asked for his bank details to make payment.
- Mr X confirmed the Council should make payment. He chased this again in May 2025. The Council then told Mr X it still needed his bank details. It confirmed it did not hold a copy on file further to his previous requests to delete this information.
- I will not investigate this complaint as further investigation will not lead to a different outcome or achieve anything worthwhile. Mr X updated the Ombudsman in May 2025 that payment remained outstanding. The Council since confirmed it will make payment upon receipt of Mr X’s bank details. It is open to Mr X to provide these to the Council.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman