Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a council road sign. This is because the issue did not cause Mr X significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to replace a road sign following a change to the road layout. He says this is misleading and led to a dangerous situation and he wants the Council to pay him £50.

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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 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, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
5. I understand Mr X is unhappy about the lack of an updated road sign but the issue did not cause him significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the issue Mr X complains about did not cause him significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman