Summary: The Ombudsman found fault by the Council on Mr and Mrs E’s complaint about it not installing bus stop clearway markings outside their home. The Council failed to respond properly to their requests, forward them to the relevant department, send a proper complaint response, and failed to ensure the relevant department contacted them promptly. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mr and Mrs E complain the Council failed to put bus stop clearway markings on the road to the front of their home despite doing so for all the other stops on the route: as a result, cars are parking at the bus stop which makes it difficult and dangerous for those wishing to catch a bus to board and alight safely.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
3. 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered all the information Mr and Mrs E provided, including the notes of the telephone conversation I had with Mr E, and the Council’s response to my enquiries, a copy of which I sent them. I sent Mr and Mrs E and the Council a copy of my draft decision. I considered their responses.

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What I found

5. Mr and Mrs E have a bus stop outside of their house. About a year ago, they claim the Council put down bus stop clearway markings on the road at every bus stop along a 3-4 mile stretch of this road, but not to the one outside their house. Mr E is worried for the health and safety of the elderly and children who use this busy bus stop. This is because cars parking near it mean they must walk in to the road to flag the bus down and to get on and off it. Mr and Mrs E use this bus stop and are both retired. He says this is a dangerous road. Cars travel along it at 40 mph and there were 3-4 deaths on this stretch over the last few years.
6. He is unhappy with the Council’s failure to properly explain why it did not place markings on the road for this bus stop. In January 2019, he contacted the Council asking for clearway markings at this location.
7. In March, he again contacted the Council about markings. He alerted it to the problem of people wanting to catch the bus having to go in to the road because of car parking.
8. In the response to his complaint it sent him in May, the Council said the road markings at this location were in, ‘reasonable condition’.
9. In response to my enquiries, the Council confirmed there were cycle lane markings through the bus stop area. There is no marked clearway for the bus stop itself. While it introduced waiting and loading restrictions along parts of this road, and at some junctions, this was because of congestion caused by inconsiderate parking. The Council did this under a Traffic Regulation Order in 2018. As part of it, the Council introduced some extra bus stop clearways but, this was not intended for all bus stops. There are several which have not had clearways installed.
10. The Council confirmed it carried out no assessment of this bus stop. It agreed to consider doing so following a request from the local police because of the high number of school children using the bus stop in the morning peak hours. After some delay, it added this bus stop to its planned improvement programme.
11. While it will consider requests for installing clearway markings, it has no written policy about it. When it assesses a site, it considers: the needs of all road users; existing safety concerns; the operating hours and frequency of bus services; the potential impact on local shops and facilities; and, householder residential parking. It also looks at the highway layout of each location to ensure it would be safe to install and local representations.

Analysis

12. I found fault on this complaint for the following reasons:
1. While the Council provided copies of its records showing highway service requests, I saw no evidence of it responding to his January and March requests, or considering the issues he raised, before the letter it sent in May.
2. The letter it sent in May was in response to contact from him as he was unhappy with its reply to his enquiry about the bus stop. I have not seen evidence of any earlier reply. I note the May letter said it was the Council’s final response to his complaint under its complaints procedure. For a final response, the letter gave little information. The letter told him:

• There was no marked bus stop outside of his house, which he already knew as this was the root of his concerns;
• It said the markings present were in a reasonable condition. Unless this was raised as a concern in contact I have not seen, I fail to see the relevance of this statement; and
• It said the Transportation Team would have been the correct team to look at his request and the Council would now forward it to them. The letter does not say whether it could have been passed it through earlier. Nor have I seen evidence of the Transportation Team contacting Mr E about it. The evidence suggests delay.
3. I consider these failures caused Mr and Mrs E avoidable injustice. This is because they experienced frustration with the Council’s actions.

Agreed action

13. I considered our guidance about remedies.
14. The Council will, within 4 weeks of the final decision on this complaint, carry out the following:
1. Send them a written apology for the failures to: respond to earlier service requests; provide a proper response to their formal complaint; pass their requests to the appropriate team earlier than it did; and, for failure of that team to respond to them;
2. Pay them £100 for the avoidable injustice caused; and
3. Review why the faults happened and take action to ensure they are not repeated in the future.

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Final decision

15. The Ombudsman found fault on Mr and Mrs E’s complaint against the Council. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman