Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about out of date timetables at bus stops in his local area. There is insufficient evidence of fault or significant injustice to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s failure to ensure the local bus company updated timetables at bus stops in his local area when these changed in July 2023. He wants the Council to take action against the bus company for this failure.

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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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. The Council has explained to Mr X that it is not responsible for updating bus timetable information at bus stops in his local area. It has clarified the local bus company has that responsibility and it has asked it to update the timetables in Mr X’s area.
6. 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 a council. 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. There is no evidence in Mr X’s case the Council is directly responsible for the fault he alleges or that the injustice caused is significant enough to warrant further investigation.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault or significant injustice to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman