North Yorkshire Council (25 028 229)
Category : Environment and regulation > Licensing
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 22 Jun 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision on licensing matters affecting X. This is because X could have appealed these decisions to the Magistrates Court and given only the court could decide whether the Council’s decision was right or wrong, and we cannot, it was reasonable for X to have used their appeal right.
The complaint
- X complained about the Council’s decision to refuse a private hire taxi licence for a motor vehicle and then it revoked their taxi licences. They said there were procedural irregularities and the decisions were wrong.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
- We will not investigate X’s complaint. This is because a person who is aggrieved by the licencing decisions X is affected by, has a right of appeal to the Magistrates Court. And given the courts could make their own decision, after reviewing the evidence, and we could not say the Council’s decision was wrong, it would have been reasonable for X to have used their appeal right.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman