Dog owner whose pet ate rat poison paid £100 by Cambridge City Council after complaint goes into email junk folder
The owner of a dog that ate rat poison put down by Cambridge City Council’s pest control team has been paid £100 after a delay in his complaint was caused by it landing in a junk email folder.
The complaint was upheld by an Ombudsman, who heard that the pet owner called the city council on April 24, 2020, to say a vet had put his dog on charcoal treatment, but had asked exactly what was in the poison so that he could treat the pet properly.
Later that month, the pet owner - known as Mr D - formally complained to the council, arguing that it was wrong to consider that the bait was not harmful to cats and dogs. He said there was a risk of the bait being transferred out of the box by rodents and that a small dog could get its nose and tongue into the tunnel.
He also complained that there was a lack of information on the box about the type of bait used, causing problems for vets, and he warned of the risk that bait placed loose in the neighbouring garden could be carried into his garden.
Mr D asked for the city council to reimburse his vet bills of £481.46.
Council documents show that the authority found the use of rat poison in Mr D’s property and the neighbouring property had been carried out in a “safe and considered manner” from the outset.
Mr D requested that his complaint be escalated in November 2020. But the council said this email went into a junk folder and was therefore “overlooked”.
The council issued an apology for the “unfortunate oversight” within its complaint response in April 2021.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found that the council should have forwarded Mr D’s request for his vet bills to be reimbursed to its insurer and that this process failing caused “delay, time and trouble” to Mr D.
The city council agreed to forward the claim to its insurer and paid Mr D £100 to acknowledge the “time and trouble” he had been put through because of the fault.
Council documents note that waterproof stickers are now routinely placed on bait boxes and that permanent ink is used to mark these with the type of poison used.
Emergency contact information is also now provided and customer service call handling staff had received refresher training in responding to similar complaints.
The report added: “Mr D’s complaint was taken very seriously by the council and was dealt with via thorough investigation and review of procedures as necessary following the matter being brought to our attention.
“It is acknowledged that there was an unfortunate delay in us investigating the matter at stage two of our complaint investigation procedure for which sincere apology has been given, something the Ombudsman considered to be a proportionate and appropriate remedy for any injustice caused to Mr D.”
The report is going before city councillors at the environment and community scrutiny committee on Thursday (January 27).
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