The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about pothole damage claims as these are matters for the courts and we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has rejected his compensation claims for damage caused to his vehicle by potholes and has not responded to a complaint he made to it about his claims. Mr X wants the Council to pay for the repairs that were needed to his vehicle.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended) 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 provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We are not empowered to determine if the Council is legally liable for damage caused to Mr X’s car or to recommend that it pay compensation to him. These are matters that can be decided in court and there is a procedure open to Mr X to make a money claim against the Council in court. It is reasonable to expect him to do this to achieve the remedy he seeks.
We will not investigate the Council’s response to Mr X’s complaint about how it dealt with his claims as this, in itself, does not cause Mr X a level of injustice significant enough to justify our involvement.
For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he can reasonably seek a remedy in court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman