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Summary of Selected Cases
DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS
2. Case No. C.557/98
Incorrect issue of a certificate of seaworthiness
The Ombudsman upheld a complaint that the then Department of Transport (DOT), now the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), had wrongly certified as seaworthy a fishing vessel which Mr and Mrs Reeman subsequently bought. The Ombudsman severely criticised a DOT surveyor who had failed to carry out a test of the vessel's stability in 1986. The Ombudsman found that failures by DOT management to prevent the issue of spurious certificates of seaworthiness or to monitor the workings of a supervisory system for checking surveyors' work prior to the issue of such certificates amounted to gross maladministration. DETR told the Ombudsman that there had since been significant improvements in survey procedures, surveyor management, the verification of survey data, and the checking of surveyors' work prior to the issue of certificates of seaworthiness. They said they were prepared to make an ex gratia payment to Mr and Mrs Reeman to compensate them for the wrong sustained subject to receiving a quantified and evidenced compensation claim; and would consider the possibility of making an ex gratia payment to Mr and Mrs Reeman for distress they had suffered subject to the provision of clear medical evidence. DETR also apologised to Mr and Mrs Reeman.
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