The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about public transport because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mr Y complained the Council is failing to provide heating on its buses. Mr Y says this means the buses are cold in winter which he considers a lack of care for elderly people.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information Mr Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
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.
While Mr Y clearly feels strongly about the temperature on the buses, he has not suffered a serious loss, harm or distress as a result of the issue. Consequently, as we must use public money carefully, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to warrant our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman