A busy year for the Flemish Ombudsman
Each year on 1 March, the Flemish Mediation Service published its annual “Book of Complaints”.
This is a list of all the complaints received by the various Flemish Government departments and services such as the VRT and the public transport company De Lijn that are largely funded by the Flemish Government.
Although, well up on 2013, the 2014 figures are comparable to those from the period between 2010 and 2012 when the number of complaints fluctuated between 50,089 and 53,511.
What do people complain about?
The Flemish public transport company De Lijn accounts for a large proportion of the complaints (34,826 out of 51,110). Around 20,000 of these complaints were about punctuality and service-related issues.
The VRT received 3,805 complaints during 2014. This is 246 more than in 2013. 1,024 complaints were about programmes.
76 complaints were received about the coverage 2014 World Cup in Brazil and 67 complaints were received about our 2014 election coverage.
The VRT also receives complaints about failed PVR recordings caused by problems with electronic programme guides.
