Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a damage claim as ultimately this is a matter for the courts.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has not processed her claim for damages from late February 2024 after her car was damaged by a pothole and that despite several calls and emails to the Council, she has received no update on her case. Mrs X wants the delay time to be addressed and an apology.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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, or there is another body better placed to consider this complaint (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The substantive loss to Mrs X is the damage to her car. We cannot determine if the Council is legally liable for this or if it should pay compensation to Mrs X. Ultimately, only the courts can make such a determination and there is a relatively straightforward process Mrs X could follow to make a claim against the Council in the courts. As this process is available to anyone and as we cannot determine the matter, it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to take such action and we will not therefore investigate.
7. I recognise Mrs X’s frustration due to what she says about delay/lack of updates but in isolation, this does not represent a level of loss or harm to her, from our perspective, that would warrant our further involvement. We have limited resources and must direct them to the more serious cases.
8. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because ultimately the damage claim is for the courts and any delay by the Council processing Mrs X’s claim does not represent a level of injustice to justify our further involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman