The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that London Travelwatch failed to resolve his complaint against Transport for London. This is because its actions did not cause him significant injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains about London Travelwatch’s (LTW’s) handling of his complaint about Transport for London (TfL).
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) London Travelwatch, also known as the London Transport Users Committee, is sponsored and funded by the London Assembly which itself is part of the Greater London Authority; it is a body within the jurisdiction of the Local Government Ombudsman for the purposes of this complaint
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
London Travelwatch is a watchdog for transport users in and around London and deals with complaints about the actions of transport operators in the City. I understand that Mr X is not happy with LTW’s handling of his complaint but this is primarily because it did not achieve the outcome he wanted from TfL. LTW has no formal powers in this regard so it cannot insist TfL pays compensation or takes action it considers is not warranted.
Mr X has raised a separate complaint against TfL and that it the appropriate way for us to consider this matter. LTW’s actions did not themselves cause Mr X significant injustice and we will not therefore investigate its handling of his complaint further.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because LTW’s actions did not cause Mr X significant injustice. Mr X’s injustice stems from the issue he complained about and we will consider this separately as part of his complaint against TfL.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman