Summary: We cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint that a Council officer was rude to him when he parked his car in a public car park. This is because the officer was not performing an administrative function of the Council when the incident happened.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr B, complains that a Council officer was rude to him when he parked his car in a public car park. Mr B says the officer wrongly accused him of blocking her car. Mr B says he knew the officer worked for the Council because she wore a Council lanyard. Mr B says the Council has not made any attempt to identify the officer or take action in response to his complaint.

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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 investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We can only investigate complaints about:
• alleged or apparent fault, in connection with an authority’s administrative functions;
• an alleged or apparent failure in a service which it was the authority’s function to provide; or,
• an alleged or apparent failure to provide such a service.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 26(1))

4. 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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. We cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint. This is because we can only investigate a complaint about the conduct of a Council officer if the officer was performing an administrative function of the Council at the time of the incident. We cannot investigate a complaint about a Council officer if in effect the officer was acting as a member of the public rather than performing a Council role.
8. The incident Mr B complains about took place in a public car park. The Council officer was not performing an administrative function of the Council at the time. This means we cannot investigate this complaint.
9. Also, even if we had the power to investigate this complaint, we would not start an investigation. This is because the information does not suggest Mr B has suffered a significant injustice which would justify public money being spent on an investigation.

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Final decision

10. For the above reasons we will not investigate this complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman