The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council’s decision to refuse a personalised disabled parking bay application. There is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mr J complains about the Council’s decision to refuse his application for a personalised disabled parking space. He has a Blue Badge and can only walk a maximum of 20 metres.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr J, including the Council’s responses. I also considered the Council’s Personalised Disabled Bay Policy.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council has a policy for Personalised Disabled Parking Bays (PDPBs). This states that residents with severe disabilities may be eligible to apply for a disabled-parking bay near their homes. PDPBs may be considered in “extreme circumstances for Blue Badge holders that can only walk a very short distance in a highly congested street, with no other forms of parking.”
The policy also says: “In all cases, the following criteria must be met: a) There are no available off-street parking spaces.
b) The ability to create a parking space (on a public highway) within the boundary or on any land or within any outbuilding or garage, which is within the control of the applicant, and is within 50 metres of the nearest door to the property (front or back).”
Mr J has a Blue Badge and can walk a maximum of 20 metres. He applied for a PDPB outside his home.
The Council inspected his road on 3 separate days to check the numbers of available parking spaces and the distances from Mr J’s home.
It refused the application as it is satisfied there is enough on-street parking capacity to enable parking close to his address. On the 3 days it visited Mr X’s road, it noted that 69% of parking bays were available within 50 metres. And some of these were within 20 metres of his home. Mr J’s application does not meet the criteria laid out in the PDPB policy, so it was refused.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr J’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault in the Council’s decision-making process. Therefore, we cannot question the merits of the decision.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman