The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council was wrong to say it identified a pothole repair from routine inspections when Mr X had reported it to the Council. There is insufficient personal injustice or public interest to investigate.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council misled the press when it claimed to have found a pothole during a routine inspection when he had reported the pothole several times on the ‘fix my street’ system. Mr X says the road was in poor condition, but the Council decided it is not unsafe. Mr X says last year he twice suffered pothole damage to his vehicle. The Council rejected his insurance claims and the damage cost him £500 so he could not afford a holiday. Mr X says he wants the Council to admit it told lies to the press and that it did not identify the pothole damage.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I have considered Mr X’s information and comments. We have the Council’s final complaint reply dated 14 June.
My assessment
I will not investigate this complaint for the following reasons: The Ombudsman investigates fault causing injustice. There is insufficient injustice to Mr X to investigate what the Council told the press about the pothole or its ‘fix my street’ reporting system. There is no reason to investigate what happened regarding the pothole because the Council assessed and is entitled to decide whether any repair is a priority.
There is insufficient public interest to investigate. The Council has considered what happened and says highways will consider an improvement to ‘fix my street’ to indicate if works are planned from previous inspections.
Where a Council rejects an insurance claim a claimant has a choice of covering the cost on their car insurance or taking the Council to the claims court. A claim of damage is outside the Ombudsman’s legal powers. It is also possible to take a legal action against the Council if it is failing to maintain a highway. The Council has a defence that it took reasonable care.
Final decision
The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council was wrong to say it identified pothole repairs from routine inspections when Mr X had reported it to the Council. There is insufficient personal injustice or public interest to investigate.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman