Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of road closures while it carries necessary maintenance works. This is because any injustice to the complainant is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X says while the Council displayed a road closure sign, it did not display separate signs specifying which road was affected during the works. He says this meant road users only became aware of the closure once they reached the road affected and had to turn round in a cul-de-sac near his home. He feels the Council’s sign placement was a safety hazard.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council’s response to him.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

5. 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 serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
6. There is no evidence that the Council’s actions have caused Mr X a significant personal injustice. Mr X also says the Council has not investigated his complaint properly, but where we are not investigating the substantive issues, we will not consider complaints arising from complaint handling procedures separately.

Back to top

Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to warrant our involvement.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman