The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about travel disruption claims because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mr Y complained the Authority has refused a number of his claims for refunds for travel delays on the basis that the delays were under 30 minutes, when Mr Y says the policy says refers to delays as being over 15 minutes as being eligible.
Mr Y says that he has wasted time in dealing with the matter, which he feels frustrated by, given the small amounts he has requested refunds for.
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.
We do not pass for investigation unless the likely injustice amounts to serious hardship or loss. In this case, Mr Y has said that the amounts are small, and while he may feel strongly about the issue and has spent time pursuing it, he has not suffered a serious hardship or loss. Consequently, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr Y ’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman