Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate how Transport for London responded to the complainant’s concerns about late running buses. He is unlikely to find fault has caused the complainant injustice that warrants his involvement.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr Y, has complained about how Transport for London (TfL) dealt with his concerns that a bus was more than 20 minutes late on two occasions.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’.
3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault;
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained; or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered what Mr Y said in his complaint.

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What I found

5. Mr Y complained to TfL about a bus being late on two occasions. He is unhappy with the response from TfL.
6. We will not consider complaints about operational issues such as late running of buses.
7. While I appreciate Mr Y is not satisfied with the response from TfL, this has not caused him injustice that would warrant our involvement.

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Final decision

8. I have decided we will not investigate this complaint because we are unlikely to find fault by TfL has caused Mr Y significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman