London Borough of Haringey (21 013 509)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Mar 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council cancelled the complainants’ parking permit. The complainant has not suffered enough injustice to warrant our involvement. And further investigation will not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I shall refer to as Mr X, complains the Council delayed in cancelling his parking permit. He says this caused him to incur an extra month charge.
- He wants the Council to refund the overcharged month and improve the system so it processes online cancellations quickly.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X cancelled his parking permit online. The Council did not cancel the permit until the following month. Mr X was charged for an extra month parking which he did not need.
- The Council confirms when it received Mr X’s cancellation, its policy was to cancel from the date of processing – not the date of receipt. This has now changed. Refunds are given from the date of the receipt of the cancellation request.
- I understand Mr X wants to receive the refund of £9.41 for the additional month he was changed. However, this small financial loss is not sufficient to justify an Ombudsman’s investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough injustice to warrant our involvement. And further investigation will not lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman