Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to display up to date tariffs for fares at its taxi ranks throughout the district. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to update tariff lists at taxi ranks which showed out of date fare charges. His taxi organisation has faced confusion from passengers who were informed of current tariff charges in the taxis they hired. He wants the Council to update all the tariff lists at taxi ranks to prevent confusion.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X is a chairman of a local taxi association. He says that none of the taxi ranks in the Council’s area display up to date tariff lists on site. This means that the passengers see out of date charges which conflict with tariff sheets in taxis when they are occupied. He says this leads to disputes between customers and drivers over fares. He has presented the problem to Council’s licensing department several times but the lists have not been updated.
6. Following Mr X’s complaint, the Council says it took legal advice but can find no legislation which requires it to provide tariff lists at taxi ranks at all. The Council has agreed following the complaint to remove the outdated sheets and to provide advice on how to access its website which shows up to date charges to prevent confusion.
7. It is not a requirement to display charges at taxi ranks but all taxis have to have up to date tariff sheets. The Council’s decision to remove the misleading lists and promote its website information is a reasonable response.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to display up to date tariffs for fares at its taxi ranks throughout the district. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman