Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council’s snow plough repeatedly blocked his driveway. This is because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome and any fault has not caused a significant enough injustice to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council repeatedly blocked his driveway with a snow plough. He said the Council failed to respond to him reporting the incidents.
2. Mr X said as a result, he had to dig himself out on two occasions. Initially, he only wanted the Council to speak to the plough driver to prevent the issue from recurring. However, he now also wants the Council to investigate why it failed to address his request for an entire year.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 fault has not caused a significant enough injustice to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(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 and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. In December 2023, Mr X reported the Council blocked his driveway with a snow plough, forcing him to dig himself out to leave his house. He said the Council failed to respond to this initial report.
7. Mr X then reported two more incidents of the snow plough blocking his driveway. The Council responded to the second incident by sending support to help dig him out. However, Mr X said the Council only started considering his complaints after he reported a third incident, which once again left him to dig himself out on his own.
8. In its complaint response, the Council confirmed one of its contractors may have left a snow plough in Mr X’s driveway and apologised for the distress caused by the incidents. It apologised for any inconvenience caused to Mr X. We will not investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint as further investigation into this incident will not lead to a different outcome.
9. The Council said it failed to respond to Mr X’s report in December 2023 because a new asset management system had been installed a month earlier. Due to a system error, Mr X’s original report was not correctly allocated. The Council apologised for not responding to his initial report.
10. The Council encouraged Mr X to report any future incidents directly through its website to ensure his concerns are directed to the appropriate team and addressed more efficiently.
11. As the Council acknowledged its failure to respond to Mr X’s original report and issued an apology there is no significant enough injustice remaining to justify investigating this part of Mr X’s complaint.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome and any fault has not caused a significant enough injustice to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman