Home > Publications > Selected cases— Parliamentary> Selected Cases and Summaries of Completed Investigations: April 2001 to September 2001 > Case No. C.614/01
Selected Cases and Summaries of Completed Investigations
PCA 6th Report – Session 2001-2002
Chapter 2
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
Alleged mishandling, delay and unhelpfulness regarding a repatriation
The Ombudsman did not uphold a complaint from Mr H, on his brother’s behalf, that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) had mishandled his application for a loan which they had offered exceptionally to cover the costs of his brother’s repatriation from Thailand following injury in a traffic accident. Although the Ombudsman found that at one point FCO had caused six days’ avoidable delay, he did not find that that had caused delay in the repatriation process. The Ombudsman also did not uphold Mr H’s complaint that the pro-consul at the British Embassy in Bangkok had given misleading advice about an application for entry clearance to the United Kingdom by his brother’s girlfriend, and about the renewal of Mr H’s brother’s visa. However, the Ombudsman did find that, while trying to be helpful, the pro-consul had erred in offering advice about the entry clearance application when that was not her area of responsibility. The Ombudsman was unable to reconcile conflicting accounts of conversations between the pro-consul and Mr H, and with a friend of Mr H’s brother. He did not uphold Mr H’s complaint that FCO had been unhelpful generally, and found that they had administered their functions properly in accordance with the policies and procedures in place, and had given Mr H all the salient advice. However, the embassy agreed to review, every six months, their list of lawyers in Bangkok to make sure it was up to date. The Ombudsman concluded that the airline who had carried Mr H’s brother had done so on their first available flight, and that delay in that process had been due to the need for negotiations between a doctor and the airline, and not because of actions by FCO.
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