The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaints about the Council’s decision to increase car parking charges. There is not enough injustice to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to increase car parking charges across the Borough.
He says the increases have directly affected him because he has spent significant time challenging an unfair decision. He also says the increased charges have deterred visitors coming to the venue where he is a trustee, harming the community venue and threatening its viability. He believes the increased charges have also had an impact on disabled and vulnerable members of the public.
He wants the Council to suspend the increased charges in the vicinity of the venue and carry out a review.
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 or continue 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))
How I considered this complaint
I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complains about the impact of the increased charges on both him, the venue where he is a trustee and other members of the public.
Mr X’s assertion that the increased charges will have, or have had, a direct causal impact on the venue cannot be substantiated. If indeed attendance has fallen, this could be for many reasons and it would not be possible to hold the increased charges to be the only, or key reason for this.
It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we will not investigate the substantive issue. Therefore, we will not investigate any alleged personal injustice Mr X said he was caused by making a complaint.
With regard to Mr X’s assertion the charges have had an impact on vulnerable and disabled members of the public, Mr X has provided no evidential basis to support these claims, nor does he claim any personal injustice on this basis. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of injustice to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman