The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the amendment of parking restrictions to allow off street parking for an electric vehicle. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the Council refusing to change parking restrictions and provide a dropped kerb to enable him to charge his electric car off the highway. He says he has received a parking penalty when charging from his house and wants the Council to assist him with charging facilities.
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) The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says he bought an electric vehicle because the Council is encouraging residents to do so for environmental reasons and because he would be exempt from the London ULEZ emissions zone charge. He lives on a street where there are parking restrictions outside his home, but he could park off road on a bend which currently has restrictions and no dropped kerb. When he used this area, he received a parking penalty.
He asked the Council to assist him by allowing him to park on the bend, removing parking restrictions and suspending parking enforcement. The Council informed him that it would not do so because it would be an obstruction for pedestrians and be contrary to the Council’s duty to keep the footway clear for free passage.
The Council told him it cannot make any informal suspension of parking enforcement for an individual because there is no provision for this in the parking legislation.
The Ombudsman may not question the merits of decisions which have been made in a proper manner. This means we will not intervene in disagreements about the merits of decisions.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the amendment of parking restrictions to allow off street parking for an electric vehicle. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman