Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of matters relating to the change of a taxi rank to a bus stop/coach stand. We will not investigate the complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says the Council removed a taxi rank he had used as a driver and changed it to a bus stop and coach stand. He says taxi drivers are being fined for parking in the stand but that the Council does not take the same action against private hire vehicles who park there.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’ which we call ‘fault’. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
4. 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

5. I considered information provided by Mr X, including the Council’s response to his complaint.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
7. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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My assessment

8. Mr X is a taxi driver who in the past used to use a particular taxi rank in the city centre to pick up fares. Some time ago the taxi rank was changed to a bus stop and coach stand.
9. Believing the Council was unfairly taking enforcement action against taxi drivers who wrongly parked in the bus stop/coach stand but not against private hire vehicles like Uber which did the same, Mr X complained to the Council. The Council said it had taken enforcement action against any vehicles, regardless of status, that had stopped illegally in the area in question.
10. The issue of the change of the area from taxi rank to bus stop and coach stand will not be investigated as the change happened over 12 months ago from the time Mr X made his complaint to us and so falls outside our jurisdiction as we would reasonably have expected him to have complained about it sooner.
11. Mr X would like the change to be reversed but such decisions are for the Council to make and the merits of them are not open to review by the Ombudsman.
12. The Council has explained to Mr X how it carries out enforcement in the area and that when issuing PCNs it acts on any vehicle illegally parked there. As an investigation is unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council, we will not investigate the complaint.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman