Summary: Ms X complained about the Council’s actions surrounding its withdrawal of her blue badge. There is no fault with the way the Council reached its decision and we have not upheld Ms X’s complaint.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s actions surrounding the withdrawal of her blue badge.
2. She said:
• the mobility assessment was not accurate;
• the assessor and officers were biased against her;
• the Council did not take account of the letters supplied by medical professionals in support of her case; and
• the Council did not offer her the chance to appeal the decision.
3. Ms X said the Council’s decision has damaged her quality of life. She said she can no longer visit the places she used to and has ended her university course as parking is a problem.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered:
• Ms X’s complaint and have spoken to her about it;
• the Council’s response to Ms X and to my enquiries; and
• Ms X’s mobility assessment;
7. I have written to Ms X and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments.

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What I found

Blue Badge statutory guidance

8. The Department for Transport (DfT) Blue Badge Scheme Local Authority Guidance strongly recommends that councils establish an internal procedure to deal with appeals against an authority’s decisions not to issue a blue badge.

What happened

Reports of misuse of a blue badge

9. The Council received an anonymous report that Ms X had been misusing a blue badge. The report said she had been using someone else’s blue badge. The Council said it did initial record checks which showed it had issued Ms X with a blue badge. The Council carried out no further action.
10. A few weeks later, the Council received two further anonymous reports that Ms X was not eligible for a blue badge as she did not have mobility problems.
11. The Council said all reports of misuse are taken seriously and fully investigated. It said the Council reserves the right to call blue badge holders in for a random review. The Council said invited Ms X for a random review to ascertain whether the claims were malicious or genuine.

Mobility Assessment

12. The Council made a new mobility assessment appointment for Ms X. Ms X said when she attended the assessment, it felt like the therapist was interrogating her. She said he was unsympathetic and appeared to be making a case against her.
13. I have seen a copy of Ms X’s mobility assessment. It is a detailed assessment and begins with a full breakdown of Ms X’s medical history. The therapist commented that Ms X appeared to be over-reporting her pain experience as she did not grimace or stop for a rest when walking. He also considered that Ms X’s plans for the rest of the day indicated her pain was not acute. He reported an inconsistency with Ms X’s gait pattern and her reported leg pain/weakness.
14. The therapist concluded that Ms X no longer meets the DfT criteria for a blue badge. The Council wrote to Ms X with a summary of the mobility assessment report. It explained, under the DfT guidelines, she no longer qualified as eligible for a blue badge. The Council cancelled the badge and asked Ms X to return it.

After the cancellation of Ms X’s blue badge

15. Ms X contacted the Council to question its decision to cancel her badge. She said she asked if she could appeal against the Council’s decision. Ms X said the Council told her there was no option to appeal and its decision was final.
16. Following the conversation, Ms X spoke to the Citizens Advice Bureau. She said they told her that she could appeal. Ms X wrote to the Council and asked it to review its decision to withdraw her badge. She provided detailed reasons why the therapist’s comments were inaccurate.
17. The Council wrote to Ms X confirming its decision and enclosed a copy of the mobility assessment.
18. Ms X wrote to the Council again to further clarify some key points made by the therapist in his report. She included letters of support from several medical professionals.
19. The Council responded to Ms X and said it had reviewed the circumstances of her case. It explained that following reports that Ms X was not eligible for a blue badge, the Council’s enforcement officer investigated. He recommended the Council conducted a review of Ms X’s mobility. The Council confirmed it considered the letters of support but its decision to rescind Ms X’s blue badge remained the same.

My Findings

Council’s action in response to reports of blue badge misuse

20. The Council does have a responsibility to take reports of blue badge misuse seriously and to investigate them. Therefore, I have found no fault with the Council’s decision to invite Ms X for a review. However, the Council should have made it clear that it was not a random review, it was in response to reports about her ineligibility for a blue badge.
21. In response to my enquiries, the Council explained the only way to ascertain whether the reports of misuse were genuine or malicious was to reassess Ms X’s mobility. I consider this to be a sensible approach.

Mobility Assessment

22. I can understand that Ms X felt the therapist was interrogating her. However, I consider it the nature of the assessment that gave her this impression. There are a lot of questions the therapist needed to ask Ms X.
23. I questioned the Council about the level of personal judgement the therapist used in relation to his comments about Ms X’s plans for the rest of the day. In response, the Council said the assessor would have documented any information he considered relevant. The information he ascertained about Ms X’s daily activities showed her ability to access the community which illustrated her level of functional ability.

Appeal procedure

24. The Council told Ms X she could not appeal the decision to withdraw her badge.
25. Statutory guidance recommends that councils have a procedure to deal with appeals against its decision not to issue a badge.
26. I questioned why the Council did not offer Ms X the opportunity to appeal the decision to withdraw her badge. The Council said its appeal procedure only applied to those people whose blue badge application had been refused, not those people whose blue badge had been withdrawn following a reassessment.
27. Irrespective of this, the Council did review its decision to withdraw Ms X’s blue badge. It considered the letters from medical professionals in support of Ms X. However, it placed the more weight on the outcome of the mobility assessment and did not change its decision to withdraw Ms X’s blue badge. There is no fault here.

Conclusion

28. I can understand why Ms X feels the assessor was wrong to conclude she was no longer eligible for a blue badge. I can see that Ms X has medical problems and can understand that a blue badge would make life easier for her. However, I cannot question a Council’s decision, only the way it was reached. In addition, I have not seen any evidence that Council officers or the assessor were biased against Ms X. I have found no fault with the Council’s actions leading to its decision and I have closed the case.

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Final decision

29. There is no fault with the Council’s actions in relation to Ms X’s blue badge reassessment decision.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman