Portsmouth City Council (07B14737)

Licensing                                       Maladministration causing injustice

09 December 2008

Portsmouth City Council advertised ice cream concessions for a 12-month period, but then granted licences to the successful bidders for three years. The Ombudsman says “There is no way of knowing if [the complainant] would have been successful had he been able to bid again the following year. But I consider that the Council’s actions deprived him of business opportunities over a two-year period and were unfair.”

The Council has now changed the wording on its tender forms to say that licences will be granted for a period of up to three years. It has also agreed to implement the Ombudsman’s recommendations to pay £2,500 compensation to the complainant for the lost opportunities and review its arrangements for granting licences for ice cream sellers on its land.

‘Mr Wilkes’ (not his real name for legal reasons) complained about the Council’s handling of tenders for ice cream concessions. He applied unsuccessfully for three concessions that were offered for a 12-month period. The following year he was told the sites were not available, as the Council had granted three-year concessions in each case.

The Ombudsman found that, in each case the highest bidders were the current licence holders. The Council said it granted three-year licences because the successful bidders were experienced traders and the amounts they bid represented a good return for the Council. But the Ombudsman finds that the Council deprived Mr Wilkes of the business opportunity to bid for these licences for the following two years.

The Ombudsman finds maladministration causing injustice and the Council has agreed to:

• pay Mr Wilkes £2,500; and
• review its arrangements for the granting of licences to sell ice cream from its land, and to consider whether these duties should be assigned to different officers from those who have operated these arrangements in the past.

Date Published: 12/12/08