Bristol City Council (22 017 495)
Category : Environment and regulation > Licensing
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 19 Apr 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to issue a refund for a private hire licence fee payment that was made twice. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains that the Council has failed to refund his business for a private hire licence fee payment that was taken twice.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- An employee of Mr X made a payment on the Council’s website to renew one of Mr X’s companies private hire licences. Due to an issue with the website the payment of £193 was made twice. The employee therefore asked the Council to refund the second payment.
- I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council has provided evidence showing that a cheque was sent in the name of Mr X’s business and that the cheque was cashed. Therefore I am satisfied that the Council has evidenced that a refund was provided.
- Mr X says the refund was not received. However, this is a matter he will need to raise with his bank. If he believes the cheque was stolen and deposited into another account he will need to raise this with the police.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of faut by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman