The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate Ms B’s complaint that her car was damaged due to the Council’s failure to maintain a road. This is because Ms B took the Council to court.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will refer to as Ms B, complains that her car was damaged because of the Council’s failure to maintain a road. Ms B says the Council ignored her correspondence until she pursued her compensation claim at court. Ms B also complains about what happened during the court proceedings including that the Council’s barrister blocked her right to put her case to the court.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended) We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Ms B.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms B took the Council to court. This means we have no discretion to investigate her complaint about the damage to her car or the Council’s handling of her compensation claim. In addition, we cannot investigate complaints about the conduct of court proceedings. This means we have no discretion to investigate Ms B’s complaint about what happened after she started court proceedings against the Council.
Final decision
For the above reasons, we cannot investigate Ms B’s complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman