ONE black mark over its treatment of an autistic man has put town hall bosses in the good conduct "sin bin".

The Local Government Ombudsman ordered the council to pay £250 compensation to the family of Gerard Dunn (41) over delays in handling their complaints.

The case is the only one this past year in which ombudsman Mrs Patricia Thomas found the council guilty of maladministration causing injustice.

Overall, Mrs Thomas settled 32 complaints against Bury Council, down from 35 last year, in a record year for grievances against local authorities. Mrs Thomas handled more complaints in 1999/2000 than any other year for her northern region, rising to 5,904 from 5,204.

But the overall increase in complaints was blamed on a huge rise in gripes about the administration of housing benefit.

In Bury, her one finding against the council brought an end to a four-year fight between Mr Dunn's family, social services and the health authority.

During the saga, more than 600 people signed a petition calling for Gerard to be returned to a specialist home on the Wirral rather than given community care in Bury.

His mother, Mrs Alice Dunn, formerly of Lowther Road, Prestwich left the borough two years ago to be near the specialist home in the hope that he would be re-admitted.

As reported in the Bury Times in April, Mrs Thomas upheld two complaints about delays in dealing with complaints on the matter. She urged the council to pay £250 compensation to Mrs Dunn and revise its complaints procedures with the health authority. However, Mrs Thomas did say that the council had acted in good faith and had had Gerard's interests at heart.

The ombudsman's other complaints about Bury were not subject to a formal report as:

Fifteen showed no maladministration.

Five were settled by the local authority.

Nine were terminated at the ombudsman's discretion.

Two were outside the jurisdiction of the Local Government Ombudsman.

In her annual report, Mrs Thomas said the main areas of discontent were in housing and planning, but she also noted a sizeable increase in education admission appeal complaints, from 321 to 408.

She explained: "Many have been about admissions to primary schools, following the legislation restricting class sizes to 30 pupils."