Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the behaviour of a Transport for London bus driver and its handling of her complaint. Any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. Further, the courts and insurers are better placed to decide liability.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Transport for London (TfL) bus driver swore at her. She says the driver deliberately closed the door as she was disembarking which caused physical injuries. She also complains that TfL and the bus operator dismissed her complaint. She wants TfL to acknowledge the incident took place and take actions to prevent the behaviour from happening again.

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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 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))

3. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X complained to TfL about the incident. TfL apologised and shared the incident with its bus operator. The bus operator said the CCTV footage did not show the incident described.
7. Miss X may make a claim against TfL via its insurers or the courts, who are better placed to decide on liability for personal injury. It is reasonable for her to do so. Therefore, we will not investigate this element of her complaint.
8. I understand Miss X is unhappy with the bus driver’s actions. But on balance, the injustice suffered is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.
9. We will not investigate how TfL dealt with Miss X’s complaint because it is not a good use of public funds to investigate complaint handling in isolation.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint because the courts and insurers are better placed to consider it and any injustice suffered is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman