Brighton & Hove City Council (21 009 987)

Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 15 Nov 2021

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the handling of a parking permit application. This is because the Council has offered a suitable remedy to Mr X and it is unlikely we could achieve anything more for him.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s handling of his application to amend his parking permit. Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s delay in dealing with his application which he says resulted in the Council issuing him three penalty charge notices (PCNs). He is also unhappy about the time, trouble and stress he has been put to, to resolve the issue.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. The Council acknowledges failures in the way it dealt with this matter and has cancelled the PCNs it issued to Mr X. It has also offered to pay him £100. But Mr X considers this is not enough.
  2. We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include whether the complaint raises matters of a wider public interest and whether any remedy which has already been offered by the council or care provider is sufficient.
  3. In this case the remedy offered by the Council is sufficient and it is therefore unlikely we would recommend anything further for Mr X. The matter does not raise any issues of significant public interest and we will not therefore investigate further.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has offered a suitable remedy for Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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