Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a taxi licensing matter. This is because Mr X has asked the court to consider the issue.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council wrongly refused to renew his taxi vehicle licence.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court but cannot investigate if the person has already been to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council and our Guidance on Jurisdiction.

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My assessment

4. Mr X is a taxi driver. He applied to the Council to renew his vehicle licence in February 2021 but his vehicle failed its inspection. Mr X says the Council failed to allow him time to re-book his inspection and applied to the High Court for Judicial Review on this point.
5. Because Mr X has sought to challenge the Council’s actions at court we retain no jurisdiction to consider this matter further.

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Final decision

6. We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X has taken the matter to court.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman