Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms B’s complaint the Council will not install bollards or other devices to prevent neighbours driving across her vehicle crossover to access their own properties. Further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault with the way the Council has made its decision.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms B, complains the Council has refused to install bollards as she has requested. Ms B says her neighbours are driving across her driveway, using her vehicle crossover to access their own properties and have caused obstructions and danger to her family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered the information Ms B provided and the Council’s response to her complaints. I sent a draft decision to Ms B and invited comments before I made my final decision.

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What I found

4. It is an offence to drive over a footway or a verge, unless a properly authorised vehicle crossover had been constructed. Ms B paid for such a vehicle crossover and work was carried out to drop the kerb so she could access her drive. Ms B complains her neighbours are using her crossover and has asked the Council to install bollards to prevent them from doing this.
5. The Council has declined Ms B’s request, saying it is reasonable not to do as Ms B has asked. The Council has explained this is not a high priority area requiring enhanced protection (such as outside a school, a busy shopping centre or an area with lots of pedestrians) and it cannot carry out all works people require to mitigate poor driving by motorists. But as the Council has identified that people are inappropriately parking on the pavements, it will ask its highways agent to write a warning letter to people along the section of road where Ms B lives.
6. While Ms B is unhappy with the Council’s decision not to carry out the work she requires, the Ombudsman can only criticise the Council if its decision was made with fault. Further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault because officers have considered Ms B’s personal situation and the parking issues near her home as well as its priorities for completing such work. The Council has explained to Ms B why it will not carry out the work she requested.

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Final decision

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault by the Council.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman