Summary: Mr S complains that his neighbour across the road parks opposite his driveway and makes it difficult for him to enter and exit. He considers that the Council should install double yellow lines to stop his neighbour parking there. The Ombudsman has found no fault in the Council’s decision not to install double yellow lines because it does not consider that the circumstances warrant this.

The complaint

1. Mr S complains that the Council has not taken adequate steps to prevent his neighbour across the road parking large vehicles opposite his driveway in the narrow street where he lives. He says this has been going on for many years while his neighbour and sons carry out building works.
2. He says that this inconsiderate parking makes it difficult for him to enter and exit his driveway and has caused both him and his wife considerable stress and frustration. He also says that he and his wife are not in the best of health and are concerned that his neighbour’s parking might prevent an ambulance gaining access if needed.
3. He says that the Council has told him it could paint an “H-bar” outside his dropped kerb, at a cost of £200, but has said that this would not be enforceable. He considers that the Council should install double-yellow lines to prevent parking in the street, but it has refused to do so.

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What I have investigated

4. I am investigating the way the Council has responded to Mr S’s complaint since the beginning of 2018. I have not investigated earlier matters because I consider that Mr S could reasonably have complained to the Ombudsman before now.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. We investigate complaints about “maladministration” and “service failure”. In this statement, I have used the word “fault” to refer to these. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
6. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I have considered Mr B’s written complaint, supporting papers and photographs and spoken with him. I have made enquiries of the Council and considered its response. I have also sent Mr S and the Council a draft decision and invited their comments.

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What I found

8. Mr S and his wife live in a fairly narrow residential street. They have a driveway and dropped kerb which faces their neighbour’s house across the street. Mr S says his neighbour and sons have been working on the house opposite for several years. While working on the house, they leave commercial vehicles opposite Mr S’s house, which makes it difficult for him to enter and exit his driveway. He says their actions have also affected other residents in the street, many of whom are elderly.
9. Mr S says he has been in touch with both the Council’s Highway Department and the police about this, but the police say that they cannot take action unless double yellow lines are installed.
10. The Council says it has no record of any complaint from Mr S until December 2018. The Council has responded to Mr S’s complaint as follows:
• In the absence of formal parking restrictions such as double yellow lines, the police have discretion to take action in respect of obstruction of the highway, but it is for the police to decide whether there is unwarranted obstruction.
• The Council can install double yellow lines, but this is costly, and time and resource intensive and would not be undertaken for isolated cases of obstruction such as reported by Mr S. The Council says it has received no other reports of obstruction from residents of the road or adjoining road.
• The Council may also install an H-bar marking the driveway entrance, but its policy is only to do so in exceptional circumstances such as where a driveway is blocked regularly and severely, immediate access is required, or an emergency vehicle needs to attend frequently.
• The Council will only undertake enforcement on a dropped kerb in very exceptional circumstances. It does not consider it appropriate to enforce on a selective basis, because enforcing on dropped kerbs will in general reduce the available parking, given that many residents will choose to park across their own dropped kerb.
11. This is a frustrating situation for Mr S and his wife. However, it is for the Council to decide whether the circumstances are sufficiently serious as to warrant installing double yellow lines.
12. The photographs that Mr S has provided suggest that his neighbour’s parking would make it more difficult for him to enter and exit his driveway, and that he may have to manoeuvre his car to do so, but they do not suggest that this would be impossible. Likewise, the photographs do not indicate that an ambulance would be unable to gain access to his home, particularly as it can be approached from either side.
13. Given that the Council has received no complaints from other members of the public, I see no grounds to question its view that the circumstances do not warrant the installation of double yellow lines.
14. As to the installation of a H-bar, it is the Council’s policy to charge for this and it is entitled to do so. Likewise, it is for the Council to decide whether to enforce on a dropped kerb. In any event, the parking about which Mr S is concerned is not on his dropped kerb, but on the other side of the street, so it does not appear that it would be possible to enforce on this basis.
15. I see no fault in the way the Council has considered this matter, so it is not for the Ombudsman to question the Council’s response to Mr S.

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Final decision

16. I have closed my investigation into Mr S’s complaint because I have found no fault in the way that the Council has responded to his concerns.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman