Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mr X’s daughter’s blue badge application. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault that would justify further investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to properly consider his daughter’s medical needs when it refused her application for a blue badge.
2. Mr X said as a result he and his daughter have been caused distress and he has accrued penalty charge notices from parking without displaying a valid blue badge.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

The Blue Badge scheme

6. Councils may issue blue badges to applicants if they have mobility needs and meet certain criteria. A person can either be eligible automatically, for instance by receiving certain types of benefits. Or if they are not eligible automatically, a Council can decide whether they are eligible subject to further assessment. In these cases a council will consider the applicant’s mobility needs and any hidden disabilities, in line with the published Department for Transport (DfT) guidance.

What happened

7. Mr X and his daughter applied to the Council too late to receive a new blue badge before his daughter’s previous badge expired.
8. They made the application under the automatic entitlement route despite not being eligible under this route. The Council made its decision to refuse the application promptly and advised them on next steps they could take.
9. They then made another application under the subject to further assessment route. The Council assessed this within its target timescales and approved it in January 2026.
10. There is no evidence of fault in how the Council considered both applications and it made its decisions in line with the published guidance. Mr X’s daughter has now been awarded a blue badge.
11. Mr X said in the period between the last badge expiring and his daughter being awarded a new one, he accrued penalty charge notices from parking in a restricted area without a valid blue badge. There is no evidence I have seen that these penalty charge notices were a result of fault by the Council.
12. There is not enough evidence of fault in this case to justify further investigation, so we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman