Summary: Miss X complained about the Authority’s decision it is unable to reinstate her mother’s regular booking for a discretionary transport service. She also complained its communication was poor. The Authority was at fault. Its communication with Miss X was poor. As a result, Miss X suffered frustration. The Authority will apologise to Miss X and make a symbolic payment.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Authority stopped her mother’s, who I will refer to as Mrs Y, regular booking for a discretionary transport service, Dial-a-Ride, without notification, after having this arrangement in place for 15 years. Miss X says she has tried making weekly requests for the service, but without success. Miss X also complains the Authority’s communication with her has been poor.
2. Miss X says Mrs Y has suffered distress, and the cancellation of her booking has meant she is unable to travel to her place of worship and connect with her community.
3. Miss X would like the Authority to apologise, offer a financial remedy, and reinstate the transport service Mrs Y previously had in place.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in future we may recommend a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)
6. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something an authority has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
7. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

8. I have investigated matters in this case from November 2024 – 12 months before Miss X brought the complaint to us – to August 2025 when the Authority sent Miss X its final complaint response. I reference matters outside of these dates for context.
9. I have investigated Miss X’s complaint about the availability of the transport service and the Authority’s communication with her, subject to the time period as outlined above.
10. I have not investigated:
• Matters in this case before November 2024. Events and matters before this time are late, as Miss X brought her complaint to us in November 2025. I do not consider there is good reason Miss X could not have approached our service and complained to us about events before this date sooner. I therefore do not consider there is good reason to exercise discretion to consider matters before November 2024.
• Miss X’s complaint about the Authority stopping Mrs Y’s regular booking. Miss X brought a complaint about this to us in 2024, where we decided we would not investigate as the complaint was made late.

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How I considered this complaint

11. I read Miss X’s complaint and considered information provided by Miss X and the Authority as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
12. Miss X and the Authority had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Dial-a-Ride

13. The Authority runs a free public transport service, called Dial-a-Ride. Dial-a-Ride offers a door-to-door service for disabled residents, residents with long-term health conditions, and residents aged 85 and over, who are unable to use regular public transport such as buses and trains.
14. Dial-a-Ride is a discretionary transport service provided according to the resources available. This means the Authority cannot accommodate every booking request, and bookings are not guaranteed.
15. To request bookings, residents can use the Dial-a-Ride mobile app, the website portal, or make a telephone request.

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What happened

16. This is a summary of events outlining key facts and it does not include everything that has happened in this case.
17. Miss X says Mrs Y had a regular Dial-a-Ride booking in place for 15 years, which allowed her to connect with her community. The Authority stopped the regular booking during the Covid-19 pandemic due to Covid-19 restrictions. The Authority did not reinstate Mrs Y’s regular booking after the restrictions were lifted, due to the reduction in available resources.
18. Miss X contacted the Authority about this in 2023. It told her if resources became available to match her request for Mrs Y’s regular booking to be reinstated, it would offer this to Mrs Y. The Authority also advised Miss X to make weekly requests for casual bookings, as and when needed.
19. Miss X complained to the Authority in February 2025. She told it she had been making weekly requests for a Friday booking, but without success. The Authority responded to Miss X at the end of the following month. It told her there was no previous regular booking for Mrs Y. It apologised it did not have the resources to offer Mrs Y a regular Friday booking due to low resources but told Miss X to continue requesting casual bookings and consider other options for guaranteed assisted transport such as Taxi card.
20. Miss X complained further in April 2025 and asked for the regular booking to be reinstated. The Authority responded at the end of the following month. It told Miss X that Mrs Y did indeed have a previous regular booking in place, and that this was possible as it had more resources at the time. The Authority also told Miss X it could offer Mrs Y a weekly regular booking each Friday, for a return journey home, but it was unable to offer the outbound journey due to a lack of available resources. It told Miss X it would continue to monitor the availability and offer the regular outbound journey to Mrs Y if it became available. Miss X did not accept the offer as she said the time of the return journey offered to Mrs Y was too late in the day, and she would also require an outbound journey.

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Analysis

21. The Dial-a-Ride service is discretionary, meaning the Authority does not have a statutory duty to provide it. Instead, it runs the service based on the availability of resources and operational capacity. As the Authority has explained, the service is not guaranteed, and bookings are accommodated subject to availability.
22. As such, while the Authority has apologised for the inconvenience this has had on Mrs Y, I do not find the Authority was at fault for its decision that it does not have the resources to make a regular Friday booking for Mrs Y. The service is discretionary, and the Authority does not have a statutory duty to provide it.
23. I recognise the Authority has also outlined other options to Miss X including the consideration of requesting bookings for a day with less demand, exploring the option of a Taxi card, and the offer of a regular Friday booking for Mrs Y’s journey home, but which I understand Miss X said would not be suitable. The Authority has also told Miss X it will offer Mrs Y a regular Friday booking if resources become available. So, the Authority has made efforts to offer alternatives, but, ultimately, it does not have the resources to fulfil Miss X’s request of a regular Friday booking for Mrs Y, covering the journey both ways.
24. However, there has been fault in that the Authority’s communication with Miss X has been poor. I have seen evidence of Miss X chasing the Authority for updates and responses on several occasions, and the Authority incorrectly stating Mrs Y did not previously have a regular booking. The Authority’s poor communication has caused Miss X avoidable frustration. I have made recommendations to reflect this.
25. We have published guidance to explain how we calculate remedies for people who have suffered injustice because of fault by a council or other authority. Our primary aim is to put people back in the position they would have been in if the fault by the council or authority had not occurred.
26. Sometimes we will recommend a financial payment to the person who brought their complaint to us. This might be to reimburse a person who has suffered a quantifiable financial loss, or it might be more of a symbolic payment which serves as an acknowledgement of the distress or difficulties they have been put through. But our remedies are not intended to be punitive and we do not award compensation in the way a court might.

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Action

27. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused to Miss X by the fault I have identified, the Authority will take the following actions within four weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Miss X for the frustration caused by the Authority’s poor communication. This apology should be made in accordance with our guidance making an effective apology.
• Pay Miss X £150 to acknowledge the frustration caused by the Authority’s poor communication.
28. The Authority should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

29. I uphold Miss X’s complaint and find fault causing injustice. The Authority has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman