The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a report of a dog being walked alongside a highway without being on a lead. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council or personal injustice to Mr X which would warrant an investigation.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or 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))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says he witnessed a dog being walked near his home which was walking with its owner but not on a lead. He reported it to the Council and it told him it could take no action. The Council informed him that the County Council highway authority and the Police are responsible for enforcing restrictions on designated roads. It has no bye laws to prevent dogs being walked off leads.
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. In this case the Council has explained why it could not take any action and there is no significant injustice which we could investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about a report of a dog being walked alongside a highway without being on a lead. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council or personal injustice to Mr X which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman