The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that staff were rude to the complainant at the recycling centre. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and it is unlikely we could add to the Council’s response.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, says staff at the recycling centre have been rude to him on two occasions since June 2021. He says he has been wrongly accused of verbal abuse.
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 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, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council that staff at the recycling centre were rude to him and wrongly accused him of verbally abusing another member of staff.
In response the Council said there was no evidence to corroborate his reports and there was no further action it could take. The Council offered an apology if he felt inappropriate behaviour was shown to him.
I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and, in the absence of any evidence, it is unlikely we could add to the Council’s response. I was not there when any of the alleged incidents occurred so, without independent evidence, we could not form a view about whether anyone displayed inappropriate behaviour or was abusive.
Mr X says he has a voice recording which he says supports his complaint. To date, Mr X has not provided this recording. If he subsequently provides the recording, it may be that it still provides insufficient evidence of fault or it may be that there is insufficient evidence of injustice to warrant an investigation.
Final decision
We will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and it is unlikely we could to the Council’s response.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman