Stornoway Port Authority welcomes all complaints as they give us the opportunity to discover areas for improvement and to do what we can to resolve problems that may otherwise negatively impact stakeholders' experiences of our services.

Outline Complaints Procedure

Stage 1 Complaints - informal

When a customer or third party makes a complaint to a member of staff of the Port Authority it is important that the staff member in question acknowledges the complaint and approaches the issue in a solution-oriented, non-defensive way.

The staff member or their line manager should establish details of the complaint and the outcome desired by the complainant as soon as possible.

Thereafter, depending on the circumstances, they should then either provide a solution or an explanation as to why no solution is possible or they should escalate the incident by inviting the complainant to make a formal complaint, which takes it to Stage

2.

Stage 2 Complaints - Formal

Formal complaints should be addressed to the Chief Executive or, in the event that the complaint involves the Chief Executive, the Chairman.

The Chief Executive or Board Member should formally acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 3 working days of receipt.

If not specified fully the Chief Executive or Board Member should establish the details of the complaint and the outcome desired by the complainant.

The complaint should then be investigated and feedback on the investigation should be given to the complainant within 15 working days, or if the investigation is going to take longer, then the complainant should be kept informed of the progress of the investigation.

Stage 3 – Appeal

The outcome of a Stage 2 complaint will normally be the end of the matter. In exceptional circumstances however a complainant may appeal against the outcome but only on the grounds that the person investigating the complaint did not do so fairly and reasonably, or that the above procedure (Stage 2) was not followed in some way, and that in any case this would have made a significant difference to the outcome.

When a complainant wishes to appeal the decision of a Stage 2 complaint, the appeal request should be made in writing addressed to the Chief Executive setting out the grounds of the appeal. An appeal without adequate grounds and evidence will be dismissed.

The appeal shall be heard by a panel of three Board Members of the Authority, which shall not include the person who made the decision at Stage 2.

The Chief Executive should formally acknowledge the appeal application within 3 working days of receipt.

If the appeal panel decides that on the face of it there is no case to answer, they will write to the complainant rejecting their complaint, and giving their reasons.

If the appeal panel decides that on the face of it there is a case to answer, they will send a copy of the complainant's appeal to the individual who dealt with the Stage 2 complaint, and ask them to respond to any claims of unreasonableness, unfairness, or procedural irregularity. Normally the appeal panel will be able to make a decision on the basis of the appeal application and the written response from the Stage 2 investigator, but they are free to make whatever additional enquiries they think appropriate. In reaching a decision they are expected to be fair and reasonable themselves.

If the appeal panel upholds the complaint, they will tell the complainant in writing and write to the Stage 2 investigator explaining in what way the complaint was not handled fairly and reasonably, or how procedure was breached, and they will instruct the Stage 2 investigator to reconsider the complaint fairly and reasonably and according to procedure. Exceptionally, if they believe this may not be possible for some reason, they may take other reasonable steps to ensure that the complaint is dealt with fairly and reasonably and following the correct procedure.

If the appeal panel does not uphold the complaint, they will write to the complainant giving reasons.

The appeal panel may decide to uphold part but not all of the complaint, and will respond to the complainant accordingly.

The decision of the appeal panel is final.

Habitual or Vexatious complaints

The Port Authority will not tolerate malicious or false complaints made against its employees Accordingly this complaints procedure will not apply to any complaints the Authority considers to be vexatious, malicious, victimising or part of a campaign or vendetta and it may take such action against persons making such complaints as it shall deem appropriate.