Perth and Kinross Council has been cleared of mounting an organised campaign against tenants who accused it of racist abuse.
A married couple who were council tenants claimed the local authority left them to pay the cost of urgent repair work carried out at their property and failed to answer their complaints.
They also complained that senior managers illegally recorded them during a meeting and that the council failed to deal with a neighbour’s anti-social behaviour.
The couple, named only as Mr and Mrs C, took their complaints to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).
The ombudsman’s report stated: “In addition, Mr and Mrs C were unhappy with the attitude of council staff, said that staff had been racist toward them, and were also unhappy that a member of staff taped a meeting with them.
“Mr and Mrs C believed that this was part of an organised council campaign against them and that the recording was authorised by senior managers.”
However, the SPSO board found that the council had responded to the couple’s complaints and although Mr and Mrs C did not agree with its decisions, this did not mean that the council acted improperly. The board also dismissed the claim that council staff had been racist towards the couple.
The report stated: “We found that the council had addressed the issue of discrimination robustly, but that Mr and Mrs C had provided no evidence of discrimination, other than their dissatisfaction with the council’s services.
“The council had tried to investigate the complaint of anti-social behaviour but had been prevented from doing so effectively because Mr and Mrs C had refused to cooperate with the investigation.”
The board also found that the council had acknowledged and acted on requests for repairs, but progress had been slow because of the breakdown in its relationship with Mr and Mrs C.
However, the council had previously admitted that it had been wrong for it to record Mr and Mrs C during their meeting.
The ombudsman added: “They had apologised for this and had taken action to stop it happening again.
“We found no evidence that this incident was organised or approved in advance by managers, and found that the council had acted quickly to address this when Mr and Mrs C complained.”