Summary: Miss X said the Council confiscated and retained her father’s blue badge. She said this caused him inconvenience and distress. There was fault with the Council’s actions and it has agreed with our recommendations to remedy Miss X and her father’s injustice.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained on behalf of her father, Mr X. She said the Council confiscated her father’s blue badge and has not returned it. She also complained about the conduct of the enforcement agent, and a parking charge notice (PCN) he issued.

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What I have investigated

2. I have investigated Miss X’s complaint about the confiscated blue badge.
3. Paragraph 37 states what I have not investigated and why.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. London Tribunals (previously known as the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service) considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.
6. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
7. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

8. I have considered Miss X’s complaint and supporting information. I have also spoken to Miss X about her complaint.
9. I have considered the Council’s response to Miss X’s complaint.
10. I have written to Miss X and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments.

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What I found

Legislation

Disabled Persons’ Parking Badges Act 2013

11. The Act enables enforcement officers to inspect and retain a badge without police presence if they have reasonable grounds for believing that the badge:
1. is a fake
2. has already been cancelled e.g. because it was reported lost or stolen, or
3. should have been returned to the issuing authority (e.g. because it has expired, the holder has died, the holder is no longer disabled, a replacement has been issued, the badge has become damaged/faded, the authority has written to the holder requesting return of the badge either following a relevant conviction for misuse or because it was obtained by false representation), or
4. was being misused (including by someone other than the holder when the genuine holder is not involved in the journey).
12. There is no obligation on local authorities to use this power but many have indicated that they will do so. In using the power, we would expect enforcement officers to take appropriate steps to establish “reasonable grounds” for retaining the badge. Local authorities will wish to establish suitable procedures for their enforcement officers to follow but they could include checking the Blue Badge Improvement Service database; telephoning their local authority to establish further details of the badge/badge holder; or interviewing the person using the badge at the roadside.
13. The Act says enforcement officers have the power to retain a badge that is being used (misused) by someone other than the genuine badge holder. In using this power we would expect enforcement officers to establish that the disabled badge holder is not part of the journey. Even if they are not present, the badge holder may have been dropped at that place or may be being picked up from that place. Very often the person using the badge will admit on questioning that the holder is not involved in the journey; some local authorities telephone the holder to establish their whereabouts.
14. When a badge is confiscated and retained, under (d) above, the Act says it should normally be returned to the holder. In practice this is likely to mean that the badge is returned first to the issuing authority by the enforcing authority and then to the holder.

What happened

Blue badge confiscation

15. Mr X has held a blue badge for approximately 15 years. In July 2019, Miss X, her husband, and her father Mr X were in a car waiting for a disabled parking space. There was a disability bus loading passengers in the space. Miss X said she and her father got out of the car whilst her husband continued to wait for the space. He parked the car in the disabled space and displayed her father’s blue badge.
16. Miss X said when she saw her husband 10 minutes later, he was distressed and said an enforcement officer had taken the blue badge. Miss X said they approached the enforcement officer to explain the situation. Miss X said the enforcement officer would not speak to her and said he would only speak to the driver.
17. She said she asked the officer where the blue badge was now, where it would be taken and how they could get it back. Miss X said the enforcement agent refused to speak to her and walked away. Miss X said she then said she would make a complaint about him. She said he then turned around, walked back to car and issued a PCN.
18. Miss X said she felt the officer was provoking the situation and only issued the PCN after she said she would complain.

Miss X’s complaint and the Council’s response

19. Miss X contacted the Council. She complained about four key issues:
1. Unlawful confiscation of Disability blue badge
2. Behaviour of Conduct
3. Procedural Impropriety
4. Unjustly Issuing of a parking fine
20. She said, contrary to the Disabled Persons’ Parking Badges Act 2013, at no point did the enforcement officer try to establish whether her father was in the area. She also said he issued the PCN 20 minutes after he’d taken the blue badge. She said this was unlawful as the car had not been parked without displaying the blue badge, it had been taken by the enforcement officer.
21. Miss X said, the removal of the blue badge significantly impacted on her father, Mr X. She said he relied on the badge for parking when attending appointments, as well as resident parking where he lives as it is a parking permit area.
22. The Council responded to Miss X’s complaint. It said it was investigating the allegations against the enforcement officer and advised Miss X to challenge the PCN through the appeal process. Miss X appealed the PCN, and it was written off at tribunal. I have not investigated this issue any further.
23. Miss X escalated her complaint and said her father was still without a badge as the Council had not sent it to the Council where the badge was issued, and where Mr X lives.
24. A month later, the Council responded. It said the enforcement officer had completed an incident report. It said his account of the incident showed he confiscated the blue badge in line with procedure as he had seen a non-disabled person (Miss X’s husband) as the sole occupant of the car, displaying the blue badge. The officer’s report stated he advised, at that time, if the person to whom the badge had been issued was present, the badge would be returned to him. It went on to say he retained the badge under Paragraph 6(d) of Section 21 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 as Miss X’s father was not present.
25. The officer’s report said that a short while later he saw Miss X, her husband, and Mr X in the car, and returned the blue badge to Mr X. Miss X said this did not happen and the badge was never returned. The officer’s bodycam was turned off during the majority of the incident.

Impact of the blue badge confiscation

26. Miss X said her father suffers from dementia as well as physical disabilities. She said he became increasingly confused and distressed by the absence of his blue badge.
27. She said she contacted the issuing authority to see when her father would get the badge back. The issuing authority said it had not heard from the enforcing authority (‘the Council’). Miss X continued to pursue the issue, taking it through the Council’s complaint process.
28. Her father was reissued a blue badge in October 2019. In total he was 3 months/13 weeks without a blue badge.
29. Miss X said, during this period of time, she paid for visitor parking permits to park her father’s car on his street. She said, she did not apply for a resident permit as she was awaiting the outcome of her complaint, and return of the blue badge. Miss X said the permits cost £2.05 for a 2 hour period. This applies Monday-Friday, 8.30am-6.30pm. She said she paid for the permit when her father was home. When she took him out, to appointments, shopping etc, she paid for the relevant car parking tickets. Miss X said incurred the costs as her father does not have a bank account.

My findings

30. When considering complaints, if there is a conflict of evidence, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we will weigh up the available relevant evidence and base our findings on what we think was more likely to have happened.
31. In the case of this complaint, I consider it more likely the enforcement officer retained Mr X’s blue badge and did not return it to him shortly after confiscating it. I have reached this view, as there is no evidence, other than the enforcement officer’s own notes that he returned the badge. Furthermore, if Mr X had received the badge back on the day, Miss X would not have pursued this issue with the Council, and then with the Ombudsman, if her father had the blue badge.
32. During the 3 months, without a badge, Miss X said she has paid out for parking permit fares to park on her father’s street. In addition, she received four PCNs for parking in convenient locations for her father. I have not investigated these PCNs as Miss X did not need to park in restricted areas. I have referred to them to illustrate the inconvenience that resulted from Mr X’s blue badge being retained.
33. Miss X has experienced a financial injustice as a result of her father’s blue badge being retained. Due to Mr X’s vulnerable condition, he suffered avoidable inconvenience and distress. Miss X has also taken time and trouble to pursue this complaint.
34. The Council was following procedure when it initially seized Mr X’s blue badge, there is no fault here. However, it should have returned the badge to Mr X, or to the issuing authority in line with the Disabled Persons’ Parking Badges Act 2013. There is fault here.

Agreed action

35. Within 4 weeks of my final decision, the Council will:
• Apologise to Mr X for the inconvenience he experienced during the 3 months without a blue badge;
• Apologise to Miss X and her husband for the way the situation was handled by the enforcement officer, and for the inconvenience of pursuing this complaint;
• Pay Miss X £600 to cover the cost of paying for parking permits for 3 months;
• Pay Mr X £200 for the avoidable inconvenience and distress he experienced during the time without a badge;
• Pay Miss X £150 for the time and trouble she experienced when pursuing this complaint.

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Final decision

36. I have found fault with the Council for failing to return Mr X’s blue badge.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

37. I have not investigated Miss X’s complaint about the parking charge notice as she appealed this to a tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman