The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a parking enforcement matter. This is because we have decided any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Miss X complains the Council used her vehicle as a training prop to train a new civil enforcement agent (parking warden), demanded she prove the blue badge in her vehicle was hers and threatened to report her to the ‘blue badge association’, which she says does not exist. She says this has caused her alarm and distress.
Miss X also complains about the Council’s handling of her complaint about the matter.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), or section 34B(8)).
We will not normally investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), or section 34B(8)).
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Miss X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The law means we can choose only to investigate a complaint where the person has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures by the body complained about. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
I recognise the circumstances of Miss X’s complaint caused her alarm and distress, but the parking warden was entitled to check she was using her blue badge correctly and the presence of a second officer in training does not change this. The Council did not issue Miss X a penalty charge notice or take any further action other than investigating the proper use of the blue badge and I do not consider any injustice caused by the issue is significant enough to warrant us investigating.
We will not investigate the way the Council handled the complaint and correspondence here because we are satisfied it did not cause enough separate injustice to warrant it.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman