Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s management of a car park as there is not enough evidence of fault causing her significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains about the Council’s management of car parks. She is unhappy she had to pay for a lost ticket on a day when there are no charges and says the clock on the entry/exit barrier is wrong, meaning she has had to pay for an additional hour in the car park.

Back to top

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

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I reviewed Miss X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I shared my draft decision with Miss X and invited her comments.

Back to top

What I found

4. Miss X parked in a council-run car park on a Sunday in December 2020. She says there are no charges for parking on a Sunday and she is unhappy she had to pay for a lost ticket to leave the car park. She also says the clocks on the barriers are out of sync, meaning that users of the car park are sometimes charged for an additional hour.
5. We do not investigate every complaint we receive; we must allocate our resources carefully and will only usually investigate complaints where the person complaining has suffered significant injustice from fault by a body within our jurisdiction.
6. I have seen no direct evidence of fault by the Council in this case and it is not clear the issue has caused Miss X significant enough injustice to warrant further investigation.
7. The Council has explained the reasons it charges for lost tickets and it is for any motorist to ensure they take a ticket on entry to the car park and keep it safe until they are ready to leave. Miss X does not specify the amount of the ‘lost ticket’ charge she paid to leave the car park but based on the information I have seen, it is not significant enough to warrant further investigation.
8. We could not reasonably say the Council was at fault for allowing its clocks to fall out of sync by one minute and the Council’s agreement to check the times provides a suitable remedy for this issue of complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault by the Council causing Miss X significant injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman