55 A man was granted a laptop by the local authority as an aid (consumer product). At one point, he was given a more recent model which weighed 400g more than the old one. He found it too heavy. ­Conversely, the local authority’s medical consultant took the view that the man had been well ­compensated with his new computer. The man lodged a complaint because the medical consultant ‘interfered’ in a non-medical issue at all. First he complained unsuccessfully to the mayor, who did not believe the medical consultant had exceeded his authority. He then lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman, who considered it unlikely that he would be able to criticise the mayor’s view. The Ombudsman therefore decided not to go into that aspect of the case, but at the same time he informed the man that he had initiated an investigation of the role of medical consultants on the basis of a circular from the Ministry of Employment. If the Ombudsman notices general confusion or doubt about the legislation in a particular area, he can draw this to the attention of the ministry responsible. He did so, for instance, after receiving several complaints about the role of medical consultants. In spring 2012, he made a general statement about the authority to lay down binding guidelines for the work of medical consultants held by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration (which was now in charge of the area). A plane from Copenhagen Airport was delayed for several hours. A traveller and his companions ordered food and a bottle of wine while they were waiting. The wine cost DKK 297. The airline was only prepared to refund the cost of the food, not the wine. The man therefore appealed to the Danish Transport Authority. When the Transport Authority failed to uphold his claim, he lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman, who rejected his complaint on the grounds that it was too trivial. Pursuant to the Ombudsman Act, the Ombudsman himself decides which cases to take up. If the financial loss for the complainant is very small, the Ombudsman will normally reject the case unless it is of fundamental or general importance. Two months after a car had suffered a collision, the car owner still had not received a reply from his insurance company. The man therefore lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman, but the Ombudsman could not help him as insurance companies are not part of the public administration. Normally, the Ombudsman can only consider complaints about public authorities. In 2011, he therefore had to reject 149 complaints about privately owned enterprises, associations, persons, etc. The Ombudsman often tries to refer the complainant to the right place, for instance the Consumer Ombudsman.