Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about matters relating to the Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) issued to Mr X. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council which has caused injustice to Mr X and the FPN has been cancelled.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains about matters relating to the FPN he was issued with by Council contractors for littering. He says the FPN was issued without any basis and he is dissatisfied with the outcome of his complaint to the contractors and the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council, including the Council’s responses to his complaint.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Issued with an FPN for littering which he wanted to dispute, Mr X first raised his concerns with Council’s contractors acting on behalf of the Council for environmental enforcement purposes and then with the Council.
6. The contractors told Mr X the correct process had been followed in issuing the FPN. However, due to concerns he had raised about credit checking, undertaken to confirm that an individual resides at the address where the evidence is alleged to have originated, the contractors agreed to withdraw the Notice.
7. Dissatisfied with the contractors’ response, Mr X then pursued his complaint with the Council. It told him that it had heard from Experian, the credit reference agency, that searches of the nature undertaken by the contractors in relation to FPNs do not impact the Credit File of the person concerned. The Council said it was satisfied the contractors had complied with Council policies and concluded its investigation of his complaint.
8. We do not investigate every complaint we receive and in this case there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council which has caused injustice to Mr X to warrant an investigation.
9. If Mr X wishes to pursue his concerns about the credit search undertaken against his name he can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, the body best placed to deal with such issues.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council which has caused injustice to Mr X and the FPN has been cancelled.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman