Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr A’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to return his blue badge application fee. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault with the Council’s actions to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr A says the Council took his £10 payment for a blue badge but did not send him the badge. Mr A says the Council should refund him the £10 as he has not had use of the badge.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information and documentation Mr A and the Council provided. I sent Mr A a copy of my draft decision for comment.

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What I found

4. Mr A returned his blue badge renewal form without proper documentation or renumeration. The Council contacted Mr A in October 2018 advising if he wanted his blue badge application to be processed he needed to send the identification documents requested and £10 administrative fee. The Council says it received the additional documents and fee and wrote to Mr A confirming the badge had been ordered on 24 October 2018. The Council says the letter advised Mr A to contact it if the badge had not been received within 10 working days.
5. The Council says Mr A contacted it several weeks later advising he had not received his blue badge. Mr A says he contacted the Council every 2-3 days to advise it had not been received. The Council reminded Mr A that he should have contacted it within 10 days and may be liable for a further administration fee of £10. It sent him a replacement form.
6. The Council says Mr A did not return the additional form it sent so was unable to process the application.
7. Mr A complained to the Council and asked it to reimburse the £10 he paid for the badge. The Council refused to do this as it had processed the application but said if Mr A returned the replacement form it sent in October 2018 it will issue a badge for the remainder of the term without further charge.
8. The Council processed Mr A’s initial blue badge application and issued the badge accordingly. When it was advised Mr A had not received it, the Council sent a replacement form, but Mr A has not yet returned it. It has advised Mr A to return the completed form and says it will issue a blue badge for the remainder of the term without extra charge. There is no fault with the actions taken by the Council warranting an Ombudsman investigation.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault with the Council’s actions to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman