Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to place an advertising board near a bus stop which Miss X says obstructs her view. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained an advertising board near a bus stop prevents her and others from seeing oncoming buses when sitting inside the bus stop.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X wrote to the Council to complain that an advertising board near a local bus stop was obscuring her view of oncoming buses and meant she had to step outside it to catch her bus.
6. The Council said the bus stop had been there over ten years and after visiting the location it did not find evidence that people sitting inside the bus stop could not see incoming buses. The Council also confirmed that no one else had complained about this.
7. The Council has investigated the complaint by attending the site and considering Miss X’s view. It has not found evidence that the advertising board is significantly obstructive. There is no evidence of fault in the way the Council made its decision. An investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman