The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council increasing the cost of a resident’s parking permit. There is not enough evidence of fault or to show the Council’s actions caused Mr X significant injustice.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council increasing the annual cost of a resident’s parking permit from £25.00 to £37.50 per year, and how the Council responded to him when he complained.
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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B).)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X said the increase in the cost for a resident’s parking permit was excessive and unjustifiable, and the delay in the Council responding to him caused him frustration.
The Council said the increase was modest and necessary and the cost was reasonable compared with other areas. The Council also apologised to Mr X for the delay in responding to him.
Given the Council’s response it is unlikely we would find any fault. It is not our role to determine what a Council charges its residents and neither the amount of the increase nor the delay in dealing with the complaint causes Mr X significant injustice, so it is unlikely further investigation would achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X.
We do not review complaint handling in isolation when we are not considering the substantive matter, because it is not a good use of our resources to do so.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault or to show the Council’s actions caused Mr X significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman