Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decisions to refuse to issue a taxi licence to the complainant for a six-seater vehicle. This is because Mr X has either started court action about the matter or could have reasonably done so.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council refused to issue him a taxi licence for a six-seater vehicle in 2022 and again in 2024.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The Council refused to issue Mr X a licence for a six-seater taxi licence in 2022 and Mr X complained to the Council about this at the time. The Council made the decision to refuse his application again in 2024.
9. I cannot investigate the Council’s recent decision to refuse Mr X’s recent application for a six-seater taxi licence. This is because he has started court proceedings against the Council in the magistrates’ court regarding this decision. This places the matter out of our jurisdiction.
10. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council refused his application in 2022. This is because he had a right of appeal to the magistrates’ court at the time, and it would have been reasonable for him to have used that right of appeal. Even if this were not the case, we would not investigate a complaint about the Council’s decision in 2022. This is because the complaint is made late, and I see no good reason why he could not have brought it to the Ombudsman’s attention at the time.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has either used his right of appeal to the courts or it would have been reasonable for him to have done so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman