Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about traffic management because it is late without good reason to exercise discretion to investigate and any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Miss Y complained the Council has allowed drivers to park near a cross-section of two roads, which leads to the single lane being narrowed further. She says this means drivers must pass individually past the parked vehicles, causing congestion and a potential safety hazard. She is also unhappy with the Council’s handling and response to her complaint.
2. Miss Y says she has spent significant time trying to get the Council to resolve the issue as she is concerned the road has become dangerous.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
5. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information Miss Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The law says people should normally complain to us within 12 months of becoming aware of an issue. Complaints brought to the Ombudsman more than 12 months after someone becomes aware of something a council has done are considered late. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons.
8. Miss Y’s was aware of her reason to complain about the Council’s actions when she first complained to the Council in approximately 2022, more than 12 months before she came to us initially in November 2024. Consequently, her complaint is now late. We have discretion to disapply the rule outlined in paragraph four where we decide there are good reasons. Miss Y has not provided any good reasons why she did not bring her complaint to us within 12 months of knowing about the matter. It is reasonable to expect her to have complained sooner.
9. Even if we were to use our discretion to consider investigating this complaint, our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered a serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss of injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
10. Miss Y may feel uncomfortable about the issue, but she has not suffered a serious loss, harm or distress which would be sufficiently significant enough to justify our investigation. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.
11. As we are not investigating the substantive matter, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council dealt with or responded to Miss Y’s complaint. We will not investigate.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss Y’s complaint because it is late without good reason to exercise discretion to investigate and any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman