The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council not refunding a parking overpayment. This is because Mr B has not suffered a serious or significant injustice which would justify an investigation by the Ombudsman.
The complaint
Mr B says he somehow overpaid for parking when using a payment machine at a Council car park. Mr B says he only wanted to pay for 30 minutes parking which is 50p but his ticket was for 24 hours parking which cost £13. Mr B complains the Council has refused to refund the £12.50 he overpaid even though he reported this matter straightaway and he has made it clear he never wanted to park for 24 hours.
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 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 an investigation if we decide: any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr B.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint.
We have limited resources and must focus our investigations on complaints where a person has suffered significant injustice as a direct result of fault by an organisation.
I understand why Mr B feels aggrieved about what happened. But, the overpayment was a relatively modest amount. So, I find Mr B has not suffered a serious or significant injustice which would justify public money being spent on an investigation or the pursuit of a financial remedy by the Ombudsman.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because he has not suffered a significant injustice which would justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman