Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to properly advise the complainant or deal with his complaint after it removed his business trailer. An investigation is unlikely to enable us to establish that the Council acted with fault.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to properly advise him or deal with his complaint after it removed his business trailer. He says this left him distressed, inconvenienced and at a financial loss.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We can 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. So, we do not start 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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

4. With regard to the first bullet point above, our role is not to ask whether an organisation could have done things better, or whether we agree or disagree with what it did. Instead, we look at whether there was fault in how it made its decisions or acted. If we decide there was no fault in how it did so, we cannot ask whether it should have made a particular decision or say it should have reached a different outcome.
5. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
6. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the Police. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)
7. And it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

9. The Ombudsman will not start an investigation into Mr X’s complaint, primarily because it is unlikely to enable us to establish whether the Council acted with fault. In reaching this view, I am mindful that:
• The Council has powers and duties under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 to remove vehicles that appear to have been abandoned on open land.
• In the absence of any independent evidence, like a call recording, an investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to be able to ascertain what was said during the conversation between Mr X and the Council the day after the trailer was removed. The Council’s note of the call says Mr X says was informed of how he could retrieve the vehicle from the compound.
• The environmental enforcement, planning, and licensing teams operate separately, under different legislation and regulations. So, they would not necessarily be able to provide advice about a subject which is not within their specialism. Furthermore, it would ultimately be Mr X’s responsibility to ensure he has any necessary permits or permissions in place to operate his business.
• The Police are not a body within our jurisdiction, so we have no power to investigate what it said to Mr X or what it did.
• If a complainant believes the Council has breached data protection rules, we would normally expect them to pursue the matter with the Information Commissioner.
• As we are not investigating the substantive issue about the Council’s handling of the vehicle removal/return process, it would not be a good use of our resources to pursue any associated concerns about the way the Council dealt with the subsequent complaint process.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint, primarily because it is unlikely to lead us to conclude that the Council has acted with fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman