London Borough of Ealing (25 001 109)
Category : Transport and highways > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Jul 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s removal and destruction of an ‘abandoned’ vehicle. This is because the complaint is late and I have seen no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate it.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council removed and destroyed his vehicle in October 2023 without notifying him or giving him a reasonable opportunity to prove ownership and take it back.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council acknowledges it removed and destroyed the vehicle Mr X claims was his following a report of an abandoned vehicle on the public highway. It did this on 26 October 2023.
- The Council says it took these steps because the vehicle did not have any numberplates attached, the vehicle identification number (VIN) was obscured and the vehicle itself was in a state of disrepair and was undrivable. The lack of numberplates and a VIN also made it impossible to identify or contact the owner.
- Mr X confirms he was aware the Council removed the vehicle in October 2023 and that when he contacted the Council to ask for it back, an officer told him its contractor had destroyed it. We would therefore have expected Mr X to complain to the Council at the time and to have brought his complaint to us within 12 months, as set out at Paragraph 3. Mr X did not however complain to the Council until January 2025 and referred the matter to us in April. His complaint is therefore late.
- I have seen no good reasons for the delay in bringing the complaint to us and I have therefore decided not to exercise my discretion to investigate it.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it falls outside our time limit for investigation and I have seen no good reasons to exercise our discretion in the matter.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman