Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about parking arrangements because there is not enough evidence of fault and any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complained the Council has provided insufficient parking outside a local crematorium as it does not allow people attending funerals to park in a coach bay nearby. He is also unhappy with how the Council dealt with his complaint.
2. Mr Y says this led to his wife receiving a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) during a funeral service.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

4. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information Mr Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr Y is unhappy that the Council does not allow people attending or involved with funerals to park in its coach parking bay at a car park for a local crematorium. While Mr Y may disagree with the Council’s decision not to allow such parking, the restriction is not fault. If the coach parking is not adequately displayed this would be a matter for the PCN appeals process to consider if a PCN were issued. As there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, we will not investigate.
7. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered a serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss of injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
8. In this case, Mr Y has not suffered a serious loss, harm or distress because of any alleged fault. While he may feel strongly about the matter, any injustice is not significant enough to justify our investigation so we will not investigate.
9. As we are not investigating the substantive issue, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council dealt with the complaint. We will not investigate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault and any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman