Buckinghamshire Council (25 004 737)
Category : Environment and regulation > Licensing
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 19 Aug 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate the way the Council has informed Mr X that it intends to revoke his taxi licence. This is because it will be reasonable to expect Mr X to use his legal right to appeal to the magistrates’ court.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council has failed to disclose the evidence against him and used language inferring he is guilty when advising it intends to revoke his taxi license. He also complains about the failure to investigate his complaint and says he is suffering anxiety, reputational harm and the risk of losing his income.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- 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 have gone to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X is dissatisfied with the Council inviting him for an interview without disclosing the information it is relying on while indicating his licence will be revoked. The Council has also refused to consider Mr X’s concerns through its complaints process.
- We will not investigate this complaint. Where the Council is revoking a licence clause 3.12 of its policy is to usually invite the driver in for an interview. And when the licence is revoked, Mr X will have a statutory right of appeal to the Magistrates Court. I consider it reasonable for Mr X to use his statutory appeal rights to the magistrates’ court so we will not investigate.
- There is no fault by the Council in not considering the matter as a complaint given Mr X’s legal remedy. It is not usual to investigate matters suitable for court via the complaints process.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to go to court if he disagrees with a Council decision to revoke his taxi licence.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman