Forest of Dean District Council (23 014 002)
Category : Environment and regulation > Licensing
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 13 Feb 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr X’s complaint about unlicensed taxis as there is insufficient injustice caused to Mr X to warrant our further involvement.
The complaint
- Mr X complained to the Council about unlicensed vehicles being used as taxis and that the Council has harassed him since he made his complaint. Mr X wants the Council to investigate his complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X considers the Council has failed to take his complaint about unlicensed taxis seriously. While I recognise Mr X’s concerns he is not sufficiently personally impacted to a degree that would warrant our involvement. I also do not consider this is a complaint we would investigate on public interest grounds at this time.
- After making his complaint, Mr X says the Council harassed him in connection with his own taxi operation. I have checked with the Council and it says it has not received a complaint from Mr X about this. We need to allow the Council a chance to respond before we would assess this matter so Mr X needs to complain about it to the Council in the first instance.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he is not caused a significant personal injustice and part of his complaint has not as yet been made to the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman