Decision Report 201508004

Summary

Mr C complained that he had twice reported faulty street lights to the council and that they had failed to repair the lights, as they were required to do. He also complained about the way in which the council dealt with his complaint.

The council had acknowledged failings in their repairs process and subsequent communication and advised Mr C that these lights would be repaired.

We found that the council's records of Mr C's initial reports and their subsequent actions were poor. We were unclear as to what action had been taken by the council as the evidence was limited. We also noted that the council had failed to address Mr C's subsequent complaints to them, to speak to Mr C to discuss his concerns, and to respond to his correspondence in line with their complaints process. We therefore upheld Mr C's complaints.

Recommendations

We recommended that the council:

• review their handling of Mr C's request for repairs to the street lamps in order to establish why they do not appear to have reacted to his multiple reports of street lighting faults within the required timescale and also review their record-keeping to ensure that accurate records are retained of reports of faults and repairs carried out; and
• reflect on their handling of this complaint in order to identify why responses were not provided within the appropriate time frames, why Mr C was not contacted to clarify his complaint and why the points he raised were not addressed in either their stage one or stage two responses.