The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s lack of parking enforcement on the roads near his home. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and the Council’s actions have not caused Mr X significant injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council has failed to take appropriate action to enforce parking restrictions on roads near his home. He says this results in motorists blocking access to residents’ driveways.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
There is no duty or obligation for councils to enforce parking restrictions and civil enforcement agents (parking wardens) cannot be everywhere, all the time. Council resources are limited and we would not say a council was at fault for failing to issue penalty charge notices (PCNs) to motorists parked on double yellow lines. These restrictions do not apply absolutely in any event; motorists with blue badges may park on double yellow lines for up to three hours and any motorist may stop on double yellow lines for the purpose of loading or unloading, unless there are additional restrictions.
Parking enforcement is not an emergency service and the issue of PCNs will not necessarily result in changes to motorists’ behaviour or remove obstructions to residents’ driveways. The Council has told Mr X to report such obstructions to the police and any injustice resulting from inconsiderate parking by third parties is not significant enough to warrant investigation nor something we could hold the Council responsible for.
The double yellow lines remain in place on the road so any motorist parking in contravention of the restrictions is at risk of a PCN.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and the injustice claimed is not significant enough to pursue.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman