The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about new car park charges which have added to the cost of the complainant’s leisure centre membership. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and allegations of breach of contract need to be determined in court.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council has breached his leisure centre membership by removing free parking in its car parks. Mr X wants the Council to issue a permit for free parking or a pro-rata refund for his membership.
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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered Assessment Code.
My assessment
When Mr X joined the leisure centre, the gym website said there were two hours of free parking available in a nearby Council car park. Mr X says he joined taking free parking into account as one of the facilities.
The Council changed the car park charging structure from 1 October and removed the two hours of free parking from all its car parks.
Mr X complained. He said he bought the membership on the basis he would have free parking. He said the change represented a breach of contract and the Council mis-sold the membership.
The Council said it applied the change to all its car parkins. It said free parking is not part of the membership for the leisure centres. The Council said free parking is available in some car parks for supermarkets, including a car park opposite a different centre which Mr X can use with his membership.
I will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. I have checked and free parking is not included in the membership; instead the website gave information about where people could park and the charges that applied at that time. The Council was entitled to change the parking charges and there was no direct link between the membership terms and conditions and the parking charges. The Council responded appropriately by providing other options for free parking. It is also open to Mr X to cancel his membership.
Mr X says there has been a breach of contract or a misrepresentation of the sale of the membership. We cannot determine if there has been a breach of contract or misrepresentation as that is a matter for the courts. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to go to court as we are unable to interpret contracts or decide if there has been a breach. Any claim is likely to be relatively small so would probably be heard in the small claims court which is straightforward to use.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and because Mr X’s points about breach of contract are matters for the courts.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman