Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s parking restriction markings on a public road which joins with a private road. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complained about the Council providing misleading signs and markings where the public highway meets a private road. He says it extended double yellow lines on the private land and when he entered the site, he received a £100 private penalty. He wants the Council to end the parking restrictions where it meets private land.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered all the information which Mr X submitted with his complaint. Mr X has commented on a copy of my draft decision.

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What I found

4. Mr X says he received a parking penalty from a private company after he parked on a private road which is joined to a public highway. He says he understood that double yellow lines painted on the public highway continued on the private land because it was a public road. He says this resulted in him receiving a private penalty rather than a parking notice from the Council.
5. The Council says it did not continue the lines on the private road. Its powers as a highway authority end at the boundary with private land. The private owners have painted the start of the private land with a solid white line across the road and restrictions in two feet high letters to warn drivers. There are also signs at the boundary warning drivers. The yellow lines on the private road are the responsibility of the landowners and it cannot control what they do on their own land.
6. The Ombudsman investigates complaints where there has been fault by a Council causing injustice. There is no evidence here to suggest that Mr X suffered injustice from any fault by the highway authority.

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Final decision

7. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman