Hi People
This is the review letter from the Ombudsman to me received on the 10th Oct 2009. You will all have to forgive me for not adding it earlier to the files but I’ve had a lot of stuff to deal with, not least the feeling of total betrayal from this organisation. Here then is the letter.
9 October 2009
Dear Mr Gabriel
I’m writing to you further to your email of 3 September, which attached your blog requesting a review of the decision not to further investigate your complaint against Cardiff County Council. In accordance with my office’s normal procedures, your complaint has been reviewed and referred to me for a final decision. I am sorry that this has taken a little time before I’ve been in a position to write to you.
I’ve carefully considered the contents of your email, alongside the papers we hold on our file and which include the comments and other documents we obtained from the Council. I recognise that you feel very strongly about the issues you raise, but I have decided that your complaint should not be further investigated.
I’m Aware that your correspondence with this office goes back over many years. On a number of occasions Mr. Rogers, and the other staff before him, have explained to you that there are limitations to what I can and cannot look at. This includes the fact that I cannot investigate complaints that are against bodies outside my jurisdiction. This includes the police, the IPCC and the DLA Tribunal. I can add nothing further to this. The bodies that are within my jurisdiction are listed in Schedule 2 of the Public Services Ombudsman (Wales) Act 2005, which gives me my powers.
You’ve made a number of other points in your email.
First, you say that Mr. Rogers had not referred to the role of the Welsh Assembly Government, which had been mentioned in many of your blogs. However, it is not possible for us to accept complaints in this format, and that is the reason why Claire James asked you in her email of 26 May to provide us with specific information. When Mr. Rogers initially considered your complaint it seemed to him that it mainly concerned actions which are the responsibility of the Council. That is your housing transfer application and your complaint of antisocial behaviour by your neighbour(s). I accept that you did refer to the Assembly failing to respond to your blog, and that Mr. Rogers should have covered this in his letter to you. However, having considered the point I have to disagree with your view that circulating a blog by email is an appropriate way to submit a complaint. This is in line with my own office’s requirement. Also, the Assembly have a published complaints procedure (the Code of Practice on Complaints) which sets out what sort of complaints they can look at. These include the administrative actions of the Assembly but not matters of policy.
Turning now to your complaints about the Council, at no time has this office suggested that the antisocial behaviour you are complaining about is only noise related. However it has become clear during the course of investigation that the issues you do cite mostly do relate to noise (and claims about soundproofing issues – see below.) As set out in Mr. Roger’s letter you met with the Council’s Antisocial Behaviour Co-Ordinator and another officer and I am satisfied that the Council has dealt with the issues appropriately. Where allegations of harassment and assault are involved they should be reported to the police.
You have also asked, under the Freedom of Information Act, for a copy of the report that the Council produced for us. The Council has not produced any such report. Instead they provided us with comments on your complaint as part of their response to your investigation. I therefore enclose copies of the documentation the Council sent to my office but must explain that I have had to omit some information, which relates to third parties, due to reasons of confidentiality. (I must add that no such documentation was included with Mr. Peter Tyndall’s letter to me)
You also complain that the conditions at your flat are “Substandard” and contrary to regulations. Given that your comments mainly relate to alleged unacceptable noise from the neighbouring flat. I presume that the regulations you refer to concern the soundproofing of properties. This office dealt with this complaint some years ago, and I am not going to reopen it now. That said, it may be helpful if I explain a little about the law relating to noise nuisance matters and soundproofing.
Nuisance involves doing something on or in an adjoining property which constitutes an unreasonable interference with the use of your dwelling. It is generally accepted as meaning acts which an ordinary occupant of the dwelling would consider a nuisance. The law cannot protect individuals who are over sensitive to certain acts or noise, or whose own health problems may make an ordinary act more of an issue than for someone in good health.
The law is concerned with balancing the conflicting interests of adjoining owner/occupiers. In general, a landlord cannot be liable for acts of nuisance committed by his tenant unless such acts have been authorised by the landlord. In this instance the acts you complain about are not caused by a Council tenant as the flat above you is, I understand, privately owned and let out by the owner. There is also no positive legal obligation requiring a landlord to install, soundproofing to a tenant’s dwelling.
That said, there is also a duty on the Council’s Environmental Health Department to respond to and investigate complaints about statutory nuisance (along with enforcement powers should it establish a nuisance exists). I can see from the information provided by the Council that it has done so in your case, and is satisfied that there are no outstanding complaints and that no statutory nuisance exists. I can see nothing unreasonable in its actions.
You also complain about the housing support offered to you and about wanting to move. I’m sorry to hear about your experiences, but I cannot reasonably accept a complaint about failures by a service when you have refused to engage with it. As explained, in order to apply for a transfer the Council requires one of its application forms to be completed. The Council has agreed that if you make an appointment to see an officer at your local housing office, then they will help you to complete the form in order to register your transfer request. They will also provide advice. However this can only apply to a transfer request within Cardiff. I understand you have said you want to move anywhere in the UK. In that case you would need to make a direst request and application to the Council operating in whatever area you choose to move to.
You have also referred to your complaint that the Council’s Social Services department has failed to provide you with any support. You have, I understand, declined an assessment of your needs by the Community Mental Health Team and will not engage further with Social Services. The Council is therefore unable to provide you with support services. While I understand that you have your reasons for declining the assessment. I don’t think the Council’s approach has been improper or unreasonable.
In respect of your transfer application, as the Council can explain to you, if you take up the offer of assistance with completing the transfer form, medical evidence is required to assess your housing transfer needs. It would be inappropriate for council to award points to an application without supporting evidence.
Finally, turning to the more general comments and opinions you voice, I would like to point out that I have no control over general housing policy which is created by government. Similarly, it is a matter for a council to decide on whether to consider a ballot on the transfer of its stock. I also have no jurisdiction over water charges, TV licensing or over matters of criminal policy or decisions relating to the prosecution of crime.
I appreciate that you are unlikely to be satisfied by my response. But I can assure you that I and my staff have carefully considered whether we can achieve anything for you in relation to your complaints. The information we have does not indicate that the Council have done anything unreasonable or maladministrative in response to your concerns. I know that you disagree, and you are entitled to your opinion. The fact is that without any evidence of maladmistration by the Council, I cannot pursue your complaints further. The file on your complaint will therefore remain closed. I am sorry I cannot help you.
You should also note that if you wish to bring any future complaints to this office you should email us directly and provide the information Claire James set out in her email. If you have any difficulty with this you can always telephone us on 01656 641150 for advice and assistance. However, any further communication which routinely copies us in on your blog will simply be acknowledged as a matter of courtesy.
Yours sincerely
Peter Tyndall
Ombudsman
Well here I am Weds 28th Oct 2009 about to write the response knowing as I do so that it will be a waste of my time and energy, but in the hope that one day serious questions will be asked by some barrister on my behalf regarding the decision making at the Ombudsman’s office with regard to Mr. Gabriel’s health n welfare here we go.
Mr. Tyndall there is one thing that I agree with you in this determination of yours, the bit where you acknowledge that I am unlikely to be happy with your response. Unfortunately I do not have access to the list of other stuff in my initial complaints to Mr. Parry of Cardiff County Council following my Public Question in January 2009.
Is it possible that you can forward me the documentation that you claim to be enclosed with this letter of yours as it was not enclosed. That being said lets deal with what we do have here. Whitewash most certainly, lets deal with the Welsh Assembly, had anyone in your office diligently gone through all my blogs you will have noticed that the Parliamentary Commissioner of Standards has refused to acknowledge emails of compliant from me regarding failures of my local MP to act on my behalf. I have attempted to engage the Assemblies Complaints Department and got the ole run around, I even wrote to the Presiding Officer one Lord Ellis Thomas and he claimed to have no Locus in these issues, remarkable!
Had you attended the Assembly during 2004 and 2005 you would have noticed the ever growing array of banners that I displayed on the ‘roadside furniture’ (‘what ever became of the complaint of council officials, unlawfully removing the same banners from the roadside furniture, outside the Western Mail an Echo Offices junction Crazydave?’) with various claims and the hope of some Ministerial Consideration to my plight. But oh no lets all walk by on the other side after all its only Crazydave.
You might have thought that the BBC would be impartially duty bound to comment on this mass display, but oh no, only issues like Herseptin or when the Friends of the Earth turning up was that considered worthy of broadcasting. Where they would shoot footage from any which way but not to show my banners. One of which was regarding your office, and a play on the name Daniels, Desperate Daniels Desperate Dan. The impartiality of the BBC is a myth as far as I am concerned. That has allowed Ministers of Health n Social Services such as Jane Hutt see above banner, to be free of any concerned questioning of this societies treatment of the vulnerable adult groups listed on that banner.
The Media has also failed to ask pertinent question regarding renewable energy, the BBC and most specifically BBC Radio Wales who have had ample opportunity in their various interviews with Rhodri Morgan, to ask ‘Do you have a timetable for introducing water wheels on the rivers of Wales, as a part of the combat climate change and the usage of renewable energy? Do you have anyone investigating where they might be most appropriately situated on our rivers? Or what communities might benefit from their introduction? Or when are Cardiff County Council and the Welsh Assembly going to utilise the river Taff for the production of renewable energy? So that if nothing else. Street lighting cost could be brought down, by the utilisation of the water wheel?
I notice that your letter does not mentions anything about the right to ask any public question of the Council and the full use of the Human Rights Act by a citizen. As this current list of what you cannot ask, appear to me a complete violation of that act. You also fail to mention the non supplying of Corporate Complaint Numbers within permitted timescales by the Council or that I am still outstanding one from Jan 2006 and still one for these latest complaints you have chosen to dismiss?
It appears to me Mr. Tyndall that you have decided that the anti social behaviour aspect of the complaint, was only noise related. I have attempted to show the manner in which Mr. Fowler has chosen to treat with me in the first video I ever put up on Youtube. Or the question I repeatedly asked him at the start of that video i.e. the ‘did you just say you would burn them down’ It seems that Mr. Gaughan, and you have chosen to ignore the threats of violence, the intimidation or harassment part of that complaint and your inaction on my behalf to relieve me from such would imply that it can go on ad infinitum as far as your Office is concerned. Odd that on the day I received this determination of your, Mr. Downs disappeared. Another of the Usual Suspects is the Police Authority who have been sent all of my blogs (I retain the digital evidence of that if you’d ever cared to view it, so they have received the complaints as they have arisen, so I believe that I have done the necessary with regards notifying authorities. Did Mr. Gaughan get the list of complaints made to South Wales Police since 2002? Oh I doubt it Crazydave!
I wonder how many other Mr. Downs I am going to have stomping all over me over, or threatening me with violence, like its my fault that the property is a sub-standard one the next 8 years until I am eligible for a bungalow of my own? Or luxury of all luxuries, a two bedroom home of my own. Because single vulnerable adults, with no dependants. Are discriminated against, in terms of housing provision in this society?
You will also see in the blogs regarding the letters from the housing office my feelings about those people, and given that I have asked for an injunction against any Housing officer writing to me until such time as a full investigation into the contents of those letter is done, that you have the temerity to suggest I seek any assistance from one of them.
I wonder if Mr. Gaughan mentioned my feelings that the Housing Department were attempting to constructively evict me? From the various demands they have made of me, in their various letter, one being the demand that I remove the screen from the front path. Or that I requested they get a court order to make me. Such a court order has never been produced, that would suggest to me that the demand was an illegal one, or one likely to meet with scant regard by a Judge.
You also fail to mention the numerous request for the Council to place a permanent fence between my back garden and 15a, made to the chairman and Judith Woodman, you might just look at the video of the community meeting attended by Ed Bridges and his being aware of my concerns, but never ever addressing them.
Mr. Bridges like Anne Rowland-James are members of the ruling party in the Council of which Judith Woodman is a part of, the Lib Dems. Mrs Woodman has been one of the group of people who I describe in my blogs as ‘The Usual Suspects’ You will see a video on youtube where she claims that ‘the legal officer’ one Kate Berry said to block my emails on account of the language that I use, again another violation of the Human Rights Act ‘that no one is entitled to be discriminated against on grounds of Expression’. Or to quote a phrase from Shakespeare ‘nothing is wholly good or bad but thinking makes it so’ and the majority hear these self same words as part of mass entertainment without getting all shirty about their use. So the claim that she knew nothing of claims of Criminal Negligence in her rebuttal to me is frankly ‘deliberately misleading Council’ ask Mr. Goodway the previous chairman if he was aware of my concerns.
That the claim is still being made by me, and to know that nothing is being going to be done to end it, is more of the same as to what the individual in the article in the copy of the Echo Banner Headline that heads this blog suffered. Your unwillingness to demand action on my behalf is really culpability in the neglect.
You are also denying the right of other citizens of Cardiff the right to ask personal questions directly to Full Council. Ones they might not like it, but as only a Public Authority they ought not flaunt the spirit or the letter of the Human Rights Act.
You go on to mention my complaint that my flat is “substandard” and that as your Office dealt with it previously that you will not re-open it now. What you presume amazes me, given the amount of times that I have mentioned that the floor to ceiling transmission values after 10 years of my occupation still does not meet minimum building standard regulations set out by government for sub-divided properties.
The Councils failure to rectify this below minimum building standard regulations (Why don’t you ask the council environmental department for the last reading they did, after the recommendation by them of 2 layers of plaster board being fitted to the ceiling of my flat, the readings will show that it is still below minimum standards)
I will restate that if your Office followed up on complaints made by tenants of the Council you would have found out this to still be below minimum building standard regulations, and once again I am going to ask, ‘Is it lawful for a Social Landlord to knowing let a property that does not conform to minimum building standard regulations?’
Then of course there is the thorny question of ‘With What Moral Authority, can the Council demand of a private landlord to bring their properties up to minimum standards for airborne or floor to ceiling sound transmission values, when their own properties do not???’ I would suggest that currently they have none.
That they went ahead and sold the above flat to Mr. Watkins in a sub-standard condition is something that I objected to at the time and that also was ignored. Also you will find in the early blogs why I did that, some of which refer to my self-protection issues, but it seems that they have the same disregard for Mr. Watkins health n Welfare as they do mine.
Since the Debacle at my previous attendance for ‘a psychiatric assessment for a Social Worker’ in 2000 I have not had a GP who might write on my behalf for suitable accommodation to be offered me given my Mental Health Issues, as the one that I had then no longer wanted me on their books and as Bro Taff Health Authority refused to answer questions on the drug supplied by their GP’s I have self medicated and remain
loathe to have anything whatsoever to do with Mental Health Teams or their basically, basically, basically personnel.
A Cash Cows for the professional elite is all I would be. If Mr. Michael Murphy thought that I might benefit from a Social Worker else why would he ask? Wouldn’t his role as a head of Adult Services allow him in certain circumstances to be able to appoint one? Especially when a vulnerable adult has an aversion to certain types of health professionals? After all, how many residents of Cardiff voice questions of Criminal Negligence by Council Officials at Full Council meetings?
I realise that you are not going to change your view Mr. Tyndall, but I wonder if one of your loved ones was in a similar housing situation, what your determination would be then? I would have thought that the Sacrifice videos would have brought some direct response, but oh no leave the SOB to his fate, appears the order of the day.
You also fail to respond to the back door situation, why are other homes getting them at the same time as the new front doors yet Crazydave’s home is not? I could show you the ‘Discovering the energy rating of your home’ letter the council sent me. That’s a laugh, at the moment the back door draught excluder that I have fitted is an old bike inner tube, as there is an inch gap from where the door stops and the floor starts. I use some cardboard in the lock so that it is more tightly fitted than it would be otherwise, and when the winter winds blow I stuff bin bags with outworn t-shirts to block the cold winds out a little bit more, as the inner tube doesn’t quite do the job. So yes a new back door would raise the energy rating of this flat.
You will notice this mentioned a few times in the blog/letters to your Office, again you ignore this question as if it does not exist in this deliberation of yours. Me I call it yet further evidence of the neglect, neglect, neglect that over time turns into Criminal Negligence, not just by the Council, not just by the Welsh Assembly but by the Ombudsman as well.
Another question still outstanding that I would like answered is ‘How many fences have the Council replaced for tenants, since I have been asking for one as a divide between myself and 15a? Or for that matter one between myself and n17. How many and why none for this tenancy? Same as why no back door for this tenancy?? Or do I presume that the Councils employee’s refuse to work here now?
At present I am waiting for the Council to send me the ‘were gonna bust in unless you open up for us to do the gas check’ letter, as I have not contacted them as to a specific time or day to call, and I did mention in my previous as to not wishing their Colin to do the check, yet the card left was in his name. Why not him Crazydave you might ask, maybe I ought to send you a copy of the videos shot on his last visit here.
As for the Council not being able to make a profit and the manner of their accounting, I have sent the following suggestion towards that to another politician ‘Why don’t the Council have banner ads on their web site so that they can get advertising revenue from the Web?’ maybe that way they would be able to afford top of the range computers in its libraries, with super speedy access that isn’t continually going down.
If you check out the Freelotto site on the Web Mr. Tyndall you will see that they pay for the prizes they give, by this very manner. It would be easy for the council to instigate and the £10 million they currently spend on IT might be reduced with a knock on effect of the Community Charge being reduced. They might even make use of ad-sense to gain revenue from the users of the libraries computers. I know you will complain that this is a matter for central government, but wouldn’t your duty of care to the citizenry, be better served by your Offices backing such a change, by demanding such a change. How nice to have a more self financing Council.
Then we might not still have the curiosity of rent revenue account no longer having ‘rent rebates’ calculated in the rent revenue account something that your office did not seem to have any issue over when I raised this years ago. Now its been switched to the General Fund and I still claim its inclusion in any account by the council is a Fraud. All that they ought to be including is their 5% top up of Central Governments payments of Housing Benefit. That they are now using Depreciation to defraud the Rent Revenue account by £30 million, again is worthy of investigation.
Also I am still convinced, that your department refusal to demand a set of accounts as if the Council housing was now in a housing associations ownership for the nominal sum of £1 is detrimental to all council tenants and the false book keeping of the General Fund to the detriment of all citizens of the city, in higher than necessary community charges.
Just to let you know Mr. Tyndall that on Tues 27th Oct 2009 I attended a Medical Services appointment, run by a company called Atos Healthcare, during that meeting I repeated the following claims to the GP that interviewed me “I am the victim of Criminal Negligence by the DWP, I am the Victim of Criminal Negligence by the Welsh Assembly Government, I am the victim of Criminal Negligence by Cardiff County Council and I am the victim of Criminal Negligence by the BMA” The doctor appeared surprised when I told him that I have never received ‘incapacity benefit’ I doubt that you will be duly concerned about that but it does bother me. I wonder what Atos Healthcare will do about those claims, they did not appear happy that I videoed the interview, after all while the parliamentary ombudsman decided to believe Medical Services previous doctor who perjured his report, about words that I said I feel that I have the right to video such meetings, especially when they are conducted under duress.
Well there we go that’s enough from me Mr. Tyndall, I’ve wasted enough of my time trying to explain how I totally disagree with your determination. I believe they are valid enough reasons for that. All I can pray is that one day you find yourself in such a similar situation yourself, and maybe wonder why you did nothing when you had the chance, so that decent housing could be enjoyed by all.
David Gabriel aka Crazydave Remember for a full list of blogs go to http://bbccrazydave.blogspot.com
This is the review letter from the Ombudsman to me received on the 10th Oct 2009. You will all have to forgive me for not adding it earlier to the files but I’ve had a lot of stuff to deal with, not least the feeling of total betrayal from this organisation. Here then is the letter.
9 October 2009
Dear Mr Gabriel
I’m writing to you further to your email of 3 September, which attached your blog requesting a review of the decision not to further investigate your complaint against Cardiff County Council. In accordance with my office’s normal procedures, your complaint has been reviewed and referred to me for a final decision. I am sorry that this has taken a little time before I’ve been in a position to write to you.
I’ve carefully considered the contents of your email, alongside the papers we hold on our file and which include the comments and other documents we obtained from the Council. I recognise that you feel very strongly about the issues you raise, but I have decided that your complaint should not be further investigated.
I’m Aware that your correspondence with this office goes back over many years. On a number of occasions Mr. Rogers, and the other staff before him, have explained to you that there are limitations to what I can and cannot look at. This includes the fact that I cannot investigate complaints that are against bodies outside my jurisdiction. This includes the police, the IPCC and the DLA Tribunal. I can add nothing further to this. The bodies that are within my jurisdiction are listed in Schedule 2 of the Public Services Ombudsman (Wales) Act 2005, which gives me my powers.
You’ve made a number of other points in your email.
First, you say that Mr. Rogers had not referred to the role of the Welsh Assembly Government, which had been mentioned in many of your blogs. However, it is not possible for us to accept complaints in this format, and that is the reason why Claire James asked you in her email of 26 May to provide us with specific information. When Mr. Rogers initially considered your complaint it seemed to him that it mainly concerned actions which are the responsibility of the Council. That is your housing transfer application and your complaint of antisocial behaviour by your neighbour(s). I accept that you did refer to the Assembly failing to respond to your blog, and that Mr. Rogers should have covered this in his letter to you. However, having considered the point I have to disagree with your view that circulating a blog by email is an appropriate way to submit a complaint. This is in line with my own office’s requirement. Also, the Assembly have a published complaints procedure (the Code of Practice on Complaints) which sets out what sort of complaints they can look at. These include the administrative actions of the Assembly but not matters of policy.
Turning now to your complaints about the Council, at no time has this office suggested that the antisocial behaviour you are complaining about is only noise related. However it has become clear during the course of investigation that the issues you do cite mostly do relate to noise (and claims about soundproofing issues – see below.) As set out in Mr. Roger’s letter you met with the Council’s Antisocial Behaviour Co-Ordinator and another officer and I am satisfied that the Council has dealt with the issues appropriately. Where allegations of harassment and assault are involved they should be reported to the police.
You have also asked, under the Freedom of Information Act, for a copy of the report that the Council produced for us. The Council has not produced any such report. Instead they provided us with comments on your complaint as part of their response to your investigation. I therefore enclose copies of the documentation the Council sent to my office but must explain that I have had to omit some information, which relates to third parties, due to reasons of confidentiality. (I must add that no such documentation was included with Mr. Peter Tyndall’s letter to me)
You also complain that the conditions at your flat are “Substandard” and contrary to regulations. Given that your comments mainly relate to alleged unacceptable noise from the neighbouring flat. I presume that the regulations you refer to concern the soundproofing of properties. This office dealt with this complaint some years ago, and I am not going to reopen it now. That said, it may be helpful if I explain a little about the law relating to noise nuisance matters and soundproofing.
Nuisance involves doing something on or in an adjoining property which constitutes an unreasonable interference with the use of your dwelling. It is generally accepted as meaning acts which an ordinary occupant of the dwelling would consider a nuisance. The law cannot protect individuals who are over sensitive to certain acts or noise, or whose own health problems may make an ordinary act more of an issue than for someone in good health.
The law is concerned with balancing the conflicting interests of adjoining owner/occupiers. In general, a landlord cannot be liable for acts of nuisance committed by his tenant unless such acts have been authorised by the landlord. In this instance the acts you complain about are not caused by a Council tenant as the flat above you is, I understand, privately owned and let out by the owner. There is also no positive legal obligation requiring a landlord to install, soundproofing to a tenant’s dwelling.
That said, there is also a duty on the Council’s Environmental Health Department to respond to and investigate complaints about statutory nuisance (along with enforcement powers should it establish a nuisance exists). I can see from the information provided by the Council that it has done so in your case, and is satisfied that there are no outstanding complaints and that no statutory nuisance exists. I can see nothing unreasonable in its actions.
You also complain about the housing support offered to you and about wanting to move. I’m sorry to hear about your experiences, but I cannot reasonably accept a complaint about failures by a service when you have refused to engage with it. As explained, in order to apply for a transfer the Council requires one of its application forms to be completed. The Council has agreed that if you make an appointment to see an officer at your local housing office, then they will help you to complete the form in order to register your transfer request. They will also provide advice. However this can only apply to a transfer request within Cardiff. I understand you have said you want to move anywhere in the UK. In that case you would need to make a direst request and application to the Council operating in whatever area you choose to move to.
You have also referred to your complaint that the Council’s Social Services department has failed to provide you with any support. You have, I understand, declined an assessment of your needs by the Community Mental Health Team and will not engage further with Social Services. The Council is therefore unable to provide you with support services. While I understand that you have your reasons for declining the assessment. I don’t think the Council’s approach has been improper or unreasonable.
In respect of your transfer application, as the Council can explain to you, if you take up the offer of assistance with completing the transfer form, medical evidence is required to assess your housing transfer needs. It would be inappropriate for council to award points to an application without supporting evidence.
Finally, turning to the more general comments and opinions you voice, I would like to point out that I have no control over general housing policy which is created by government. Similarly, it is a matter for a council to decide on whether to consider a ballot on the transfer of its stock. I also have no jurisdiction over water charges, TV licensing or over matters of criminal policy or decisions relating to the prosecution of crime.
I appreciate that you are unlikely to be satisfied by my response. But I can assure you that I and my staff have carefully considered whether we can achieve anything for you in relation to your complaints. The information we have does not indicate that the Council have done anything unreasonable or maladministrative in response to your concerns. I know that you disagree, and you are entitled to your opinion. The fact is that without any evidence of maladmistration by the Council, I cannot pursue your complaints further. The file on your complaint will therefore remain closed. I am sorry I cannot help you.
You should also note that if you wish to bring any future complaints to this office you should email us directly and provide the information Claire James set out in her email. If you have any difficulty with this you can always telephone us on 01656 641150 for advice and assistance. However, any further communication which routinely copies us in on your blog will simply be acknowledged as a matter of courtesy.
Yours sincerely
Peter Tyndall
Ombudsman
Well here I am Weds 28th Oct 2009 about to write the response knowing as I do so that it will be a waste of my time and energy, but in the hope that one day serious questions will be asked by some barrister on my behalf regarding the decision making at the Ombudsman’s office with regard to Mr. Gabriel’s health n welfare here we go.
Mr. Tyndall there is one thing that I agree with you in this determination of yours, the bit where you acknowledge that I am unlikely to be happy with your response. Unfortunately I do not have access to the list of other stuff in my initial complaints to Mr. Parry of Cardiff County Council following my Public Question in January 2009.
Is it possible that you can forward me the documentation that you claim to be enclosed with this letter of yours as it was not enclosed. That being said lets deal with what we do have here. Whitewash most certainly, lets deal with the Welsh Assembly, had anyone in your office diligently gone through all my blogs you will have noticed that the Parliamentary Commissioner of Standards has refused to acknowledge emails of compliant from me regarding failures of my local MP to act on my behalf. I have attempted to engage the Assemblies Complaints Department and got the ole run around, I even wrote to the Presiding Officer one Lord Ellis Thomas and he claimed to have no Locus in these issues, remarkable!
Had you attended the Assembly during 2004 and 2005 you would have noticed the ever growing array of banners that I displayed on the ‘roadside furniture’ (‘what ever became of the complaint of council officials, unlawfully removing the same banners from the roadside furniture, outside the Western Mail an Echo Offices junction Crazydave?’) with various claims and the hope of some Ministerial Consideration to my plight. But oh no lets all walk by on the other side after all its only Crazydave.
You might have thought that the BBC would be impartially duty bound to comment on this mass display, but oh no, only issues like Herseptin or when the Friends of the Earth turning up was that considered worthy of broadcasting. Where they would shoot footage from any which way but not to show my banners. One of which was regarding your office, and a play on the name Daniels, Desperate Daniels Desperate Dan. The impartiality of the BBC is a myth as far as I am concerned. That has allowed Ministers of Health n Social Services such as Jane Hutt see above banner, to be free of any concerned questioning of this societies treatment of the vulnerable adult groups listed on that banner.
The Media has also failed to ask pertinent question regarding renewable energy, the BBC and most specifically BBC Radio Wales who have had ample opportunity in their various interviews with Rhodri Morgan, to ask ‘Do you have a timetable for introducing water wheels on the rivers of Wales, as a part of the combat climate change and the usage of renewable energy? Do you have anyone investigating where they might be most appropriately situated on our rivers? Or what communities might benefit from their introduction? Or when are Cardiff County Council and the Welsh Assembly going to utilise the river Taff for the production of renewable energy? So that if nothing else. Street lighting cost could be brought down, by the utilisation of the water wheel?
I notice that your letter does not mentions anything about the right to ask any public question of the Council and the full use of the Human Rights Act by a citizen. As this current list of what you cannot ask, appear to me a complete violation of that act. You also fail to mention the non supplying of Corporate Complaint Numbers within permitted timescales by the Council or that I am still outstanding one from Jan 2006 and still one for these latest complaints you have chosen to dismiss?
It appears to me Mr. Tyndall that you have decided that the anti social behaviour aspect of the complaint, was only noise related. I have attempted to show the manner in which Mr. Fowler has chosen to treat with me in the first video I ever put up on Youtube. Or the question I repeatedly asked him at the start of that video i.e. the ‘did you just say you would burn them down’ It seems that Mr. Gaughan, and you have chosen to ignore the threats of violence, the intimidation or harassment part of that complaint and your inaction on my behalf to relieve me from such would imply that it can go on ad infinitum as far as your Office is concerned. Odd that on the day I received this determination of your, Mr. Downs disappeared. Another of the Usual Suspects is the Police Authority who have been sent all of my blogs (I retain the digital evidence of that if you’d ever cared to view it, so they have received the complaints as they have arisen, so I believe that I have done the necessary with regards notifying authorities. Did Mr. Gaughan get the list of complaints made to South Wales Police since 2002? Oh I doubt it Crazydave!
I wonder how many other Mr. Downs I am going to have stomping all over me over, or threatening me with violence, like its my fault that the property is a sub-standard one the next 8 years until I am eligible for a bungalow of my own? Or luxury of all luxuries, a two bedroom home of my own. Because single vulnerable adults, with no dependants. Are discriminated against, in terms of housing provision in this society?
You will also see in the blogs regarding the letters from the housing office my feelings about those people, and given that I have asked for an injunction against any Housing officer writing to me until such time as a full investigation into the contents of those letter is done, that you have the temerity to suggest I seek any assistance from one of them.
I wonder if Mr. Gaughan mentioned my feelings that the Housing Department were attempting to constructively evict me? From the various demands they have made of me, in their various letter, one being the demand that I remove the screen from the front path. Or that I requested they get a court order to make me. Such a court order has never been produced, that would suggest to me that the demand was an illegal one, or one likely to meet with scant regard by a Judge.
You also fail to mention the numerous request for the Council to place a permanent fence between my back garden and 15a, made to the chairman and Judith Woodman, you might just look at the video of the community meeting attended by Ed Bridges and his being aware of my concerns, but never ever addressing them.
Mr. Bridges like Anne Rowland-James are members of the ruling party in the Council of which Judith Woodman is a part of, the Lib Dems. Mrs Woodman has been one of the group of people who I describe in my blogs as ‘The Usual Suspects’ You will see a video on youtube where she claims that ‘the legal officer’ one Kate Berry said to block my emails on account of the language that I use, again another violation of the Human Rights Act ‘that no one is entitled to be discriminated against on grounds of Expression’. Or to quote a phrase from Shakespeare ‘nothing is wholly good or bad but thinking makes it so’ and the majority hear these self same words as part of mass entertainment without getting all shirty about their use. So the claim that she knew nothing of claims of Criminal Negligence in her rebuttal to me is frankly ‘deliberately misleading Council’ ask Mr. Goodway the previous chairman if he was aware of my concerns.
That the claim is still being made by me, and to know that nothing is being going to be done to end it, is more of the same as to what the individual in the article in the copy of the Echo Banner Headline that heads this blog suffered. Your unwillingness to demand action on my behalf is really culpability in the neglect.
You are also denying the right of other citizens of Cardiff the right to ask personal questions directly to Full Council. Ones they might not like it, but as only a Public Authority they ought not flaunt the spirit or the letter of the Human Rights Act.
You go on to mention my complaint that my flat is “substandard” and that as your Office dealt with it previously that you will not re-open it now. What you presume amazes me, given the amount of times that I have mentioned that the floor to ceiling transmission values after 10 years of my occupation still does not meet minimum building standard regulations set out by government for sub-divided properties.
The Councils failure to rectify this below minimum building standard regulations (Why don’t you ask the council environmental department for the last reading they did, after the recommendation by them of 2 layers of plaster board being fitted to the ceiling of my flat, the readings will show that it is still below minimum standards)
I will restate that if your Office followed up on complaints made by tenants of the Council you would have found out this to still be below minimum building standard regulations, and once again I am going to ask, ‘Is it lawful for a Social Landlord to knowing let a property that does not conform to minimum building standard regulations?’
Then of course there is the thorny question of ‘With What Moral Authority, can the Council demand of a private landlord to bring their properties up to minimum standards for airborne or floor to ceiling sound transmission values, when their own properties do not???’ I would suggest that currently they have none.
That they went ahead and sold the above flat to Mr. Watkins in a sub-standard condition is something that I objected to at the time and that also was ignored. Also you will find in the early blogs why I did that, some of which refer to my self-protection issues, but it seems that they have the same disregard for Mr. Watkins health n Welfare as they do mine.
Since the Debacle at my previous attendance for ‘a psychiatric assessment for a Social Worker’ in 2000 I have not had a GP who might write on my behalf for suitable accommodation to be offered me given my Mental Health Issues, as the one that I had then no longer wanted me on their books and as Bro Taff Health Authority refused to answer questions on the drug supplied by their GP’s I have self medicated and remain
loathe to have anything whatsoever to do with Mental Health Teams or their basically, basically, basically personnel.
A Cash Cows for the professional elite is all I would be. If Mr. Michael Murphy thought that I might benefit from a Social Worker else why would he ask? Wouldn’t his role as a head of Adult Services allow him in certain circumstances to be able to appoint one? Especially when a vulnerable adult has an aversion to certain types of health professionals? After all, how many residents of Cardiff voice questions of Criminal Negligence by Council Officials at Full Council meetings?
I realise that you are not going to change your view Mr. Tyndall, but I wonder if one of your loved ones was in a similar housing situation, what your determination would be then? I would have thought that the Sacrifice videos would have brought some direct response, but oh no leave the SOB to his fate, appears the order of the day.
You also fail to respond to the back door situation, why are other homes getting them at the same time as the new front doors yet Crazydave’s home is not? I could show you the ‘Discovering the energy rating of your home’ letter the council sent me. That’s a laugh, at the moment the back door draught excluder that I have fitted is an old bike inner tube, as there is an inch gap from where the door stops and the floor starts. I use some cardboard in the lock so that it is more tightly fitted than it would be otherwise, and when the winter winds blow I stuff bin bags with outworn t-shirts to block the cold winds out a little bit more, as the inner tube doesn’t quite do the job. So yes a new back door would raise the energy rating of this flat.
You will notice this mentioned a few times in the blog/letters to your Office, again you ignore this question as if it does not exist in this deliberation of yours. Me I call it yet further evidence of the neglect, neglect, neglect that over time turns into Criminal Negligence, not just by the Council, not just by the Welsh Assembly but by the Ombudsman as well.
Another question still outstanding that I would like answered is ‘How many fences have the Council replaced for tenants, since I have been asking for one as a divide between myself and 15a? Or for that matter one between myself and n17. How many and why none for this tenancy? Same as why no back door for this tenancy?? Or do I presume that the Councils employee’s refuse to work here now?
At present I am waiting for the Council to send me the ‘were gonna bust in unless you open up for us to do the gas check’ letter, as I have not contacted them as to a specific time or day to call, and I did mention in my previous as to not wishing their Colin to do the check, yet the card left was in his name. Why not him Crazydave you might ask, maybe I ought to send you a copy of the videos shot on his last visit here.
As for the Council not being able to make a profit and the manner of their accounting, I have sent the following suggestion towards that to another politician ‘Why don’t the Council have banner ads on their web site so that they can get advertising revenue from the Web?’ maybe that way they would be able to afford top of the range computers in its libraries, with super speedy access that isn’t continually going down.
If you check out the Freelotto site on the Web Mr. Tyndall you will see that they pay for the prizes they give, by this very manner. It would be easy for the council to instigate and the £10 million they currently spend on IT might be reduced with a knock on effect of the Community Charge being reduced. They might even make use of ad-sense to gain revenue from the users of the libraries computers. I know you will complain that this is a matter for central government, but wouldn’t your duty of care to the citizenry, be better served by your Offices backing such a change, by demanding such a change. How nice to have a more self financing Council.
Then we might not still have the curiosity of rent revenue account no longer having ‘rent rebates’ calculated in the rent revenue account something that your office did not seem to have any issue over when I raised this years ago. Now its been switched to the General Fund and I still claim its inclusion in any account by the council is a Fraud. All that they ought to be including is their 5% top up of Central Governments payments of Housing Benefit. That they are now using Depreciation to defraud the Rent Revenue account by £30 million, again is worthy of investigation.
Also I am still convinced, that your department refusal to demand a set of accounts as if the Council housing was now in a housing associations ownership for the nominal sum of £1 is detrimental to all council tenants and the false book keeping of the General Fund to the detriment of all citizens of the city, in higher than necessary community charges.
Just to let you know Mr. Tyndall that on Tues 27th Oct 2009 I attended a Medical Services appointment, run by a company called Atos Healthcare, during that meeting I repeated the following claims to the GP that interviewed me “I am the victim of Criminal Negligence by the DWP, I am the Victim of Criminal Negligence by the Welsh Assembly Government, I am the victim of Criminal Negligence by Cardiff County Council and I am the victim of Criminal Negligence by the BMA” The doctor appeared surprised when I told him that I have never received ‘incapacity benefit’ I doubt that you will be duly concerned about that but it does bother me. I wonder what Atos Healthcare will do about those claims, they did not appear happy that I videoed the interview, after all while the parliamentary ombudsman decided to believe Medical Services previous doctor who perjured his report, about words that I said I feel that I have the right to video such meetings, especially when they are conducted under duress.
Well there we go that’s enough from me Mr. Tyndall, I’ve wasted enough of my time trying to explain how I totally disagree with your determination. I believe they are valid enough reasons for that. All I can pray is that one day you find yourself in such a similar situation yourself, and maybe wonder why you did nothing when you had the chance, so that decent housing could be enjoyed by all.
David Gabriel aka Crazydave Remember for a full list of blogs go to http://bbccrazydave.blogspot.com
