Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about change the Council made to its taxi licensing policy. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault with how the Council changed its policy, we cannot tell the Council to make the changes Mr X wants and we cannot decide whether the Council has discriminated against Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about changes the Council has made to its taxi licensing policy, which now requires all drivers to use wheelchair accessible vehicles, even if the individual driver is exempt from carrying passengers who use wheelchairs. He says the Council’s policy discriminates against him as a disabled taxi driver and will cause him additional costs. He wants the Council to reinstate the original exemptions for disabled drivers.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. We cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. But we can make decisions about whether or not an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. In November 2024, the Council amended its taxi licensing policy. The Council now requires all drivers to use wheelchair accessible vehicles, even if the driver is exempt from carrying wheelchair passengers because of their own health conditions.
8. Records from the committee meeting which agreed the change show the Council considered the potential impact on disabled drivers of the change. Disabled drivers can still be exempt from carrying wheelchair passengers, but they must still use a wheelchair accessible vehicle. The Council highlighted that such vehicles have other advantages over normal cars and that it wished to increase the number of wheelchair accessible taxis, since this had reduced in recent years.
9. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to decide what a council’s policy should be; that is for individual councils to decide. We can only investigate whether a council has made its decision properly. The evidence from the meeting shows the Council followed a proper decision-making process and we would be unlikely to find fault. We cannot tell the Council to make the changes to its policy which Mr X is asking for.
10. The Ombudsman also cannot decide whether the Council has discriminated against Mr X or failed to make reasonable adjustments for his disability. Only the courts can do this.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because, there is insufficient evidence of fault with how the Council changed its policy, we cannot tell the Council to make the changes Mr X wants and we cannot decide whether the Council has discriminated against Mr X.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman