The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal of a wild animal licence as it is reasonable to expect Mr X to have appealed the decision to the Magistrates’ Court.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has not granted him a licence to keep his wild animals, which it has done in previous years. Mr X also complains the Council failed to investigate his complaint about this. Mr X says he may have to destroy his animals.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended) 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 any alleged fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complains the Council has not renewed his licence to keep wild animals and considers this is because of the involvement of a particular vet who Mr X feels has his own agenda in respect of the keeping of such animals.
Ultimately Mr X’s complaint is about the refusal of the licence. The law provides an appeal to the Magistrates’ Court to challenge this decision. We are not another level of appeal and cannot make the decisions the Court can. It is reasonable therefore to expect Mr X to have used his recourse to court and therefore, as per paragraph two, we will not investigate.
We will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling as a separate matter, as Mr X is not caused a level of injustice from this alone to warrant our further involvement.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to have appealed against the Council's decision to the Magistrates’ Court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman