Summary: Ms X complained cars and coaches block her registered dropped kerb and Civil Enforcement Officers do not respond to her reports. Ms X needs access to her drive, and this is causing her distress. The Council are not at fault for how it dealt with problem parking in the area.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained cars and coaches block her registered dropped kerb. She said the Council does not respond to her emails and Civil Enforcement Officers (CEO) are not visible. Ms X is critically vulnerable and needs constant access to her drive. She said this caused her distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended).

3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. As part of the investigation I have considered the following:
• The complaint and the documents provided by the complainant.
• Documents provided by the Council and its comments in response to my enquiries.
• Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA04), Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (RTRA84), The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/3483), The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) Representations and Appeals Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/3482) and Government Guidance for Local Authorities on Enforcing Parking Restrictions.
5. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

The Council’s parking enforcement policy and information online

Dropped kerbs

6. If a vehicle waits on a carriageway, next to a dropped kerb, a contravention occurs. If a CEO witnesses the contravention, they may serve a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).
7. A driver can load and unload at a dropped kerb for up to 20 minutes, or longer where necessary. Where picking up or setting down passengers, the driver must remain with the vehicle unless they are helping children or disabled passengers.
8. If a driver parks their vehicle outside a residential premises with its own drive, a resident must complain to the Council before it can issue a PCN. This is to prevent the Council from unintentionally issuing PCNs to the resident or their guests.
9. A resident may register their dropped kerb. This is useful where a resident regularly has vehicles blocking their dropped kerb. The resident chooses two vehicles which may park across their drive. Once the Council has registered the dropped kerb, all other vehicles that park across the dropped kerb will be liable for a PCN, without the resident having to report it. Once registered, the CEO can take enforcement action during their patrols without the resident needing to report the contravention. A resident may still report a vehicle parked across their dropped kerb if it occurs when a CEO is not present.
10. A CEO must witness the parking contravention to take enforcement action.
11. The Council does not have authority to remove vehicles causing an obstruction. An individual should report these to the Police.

Reporting a parking offence

12. CEOs patrol roads across the borough and can issue a PCN where a vehicle is parked breaking the restrictions. This includes obstructing a dropped kerb.
13. If an individual notices a parking contravention taking place when a CEO is not present, they may report it to the Council.
14. Once an individual reports a parking contravention, the Council will arrange for a CEO to visit the location and issue a PCN if the vehicle contravenes the parking restriction. CEOs work Monday to Saturday 7am to 10pm and Sundays from 11:45 am to 4pm. The CEOs may be patrolling elsewhere so may not respond to the request immediately. An individual will not get a reply from the Council about the result of a CEO visit.

What happened

15. I have summarised below the key events; this is not intended to be a detailed account.
16. Ms X lives in a property with a private driveway and dropped kerb. There is a school close by.
17. Ms X says she is critically vulnerable and needs constant access to her driveway. She suffers with stress.
18. Ms X said coaches and cars often obstruct her private driveway. She said the cars are usually people dropping children off at school in the morning and collecting them in the afternoon. The coaches are linked to the school.
19. Ms X said she reported the parking contraventions to the Council by telephone and using the online form.
20. Between April 2022 and December 2022, Ms X said she received two phone calls from the Council following her reporting a parking contravention. During this time, Ms X said she has seen four CEOs locally. She considers the parking problem would be solved if there were more CEOs patrolling the area.
21. Ms X said she has sometimes asked the driver of a car to move their car. She said most are polite, apologise and move their car. A couple of times, the driver has been rude, arrogant and refused to move.
22. The Council advised Ms X to register her dropped kerb which she did. Her son’s car is the only car allowed to park in front of her drive. In conversation with me, Ms X said she thought this would solve her problems as it sounded like a great system. She said it did not work in practice; she does not think anything changed after she registered her dropped kerb.
23. Ms X wrote to her Councillor in August 2022. She said matters have improved since, but she still does have some issues. She does not consider she received any help from the Council’s enforcement team or any CEOs.
24. Since summer 2022, Ms X said the school coaches now park outside the school rather than near her property. A couple of times, the coaches have parked across her drive but apologised and moved when she raised this with the driver. She said it has not been a problem since Christmas.
25. Ms X complained to the Council at the end of September 2022. The Council issued its stage one response in October and its stage two response in November. The Council said it cannot prevent motorists from parking where they are not supposed to. It can issue PCNs when vehicles ignore restrictions and park illegally. It recognised Ms X had reported parking contraventions and confirmed CEOs had attended. CEOs had not always found a vehicle parked illegally when they visited the property so could not always serve a PCN.
26. The Council’s records show Ms X reported 69 parking contraventions between May 2022 and November 2022. There are no records of Ms X reporting a parking contravention after November 2022.
27. The Council’s records show its CEOs made 47 visits to the area from January 2022 to February 2023. 52 of these visits were in response to Ms X reporting parking contraventions. The Council responded to roughly three quarters of the complaints Ms X lodged.
28. Following the CEOs visits between January 2022 and February 2023 the Council issued 1125 PCNs on the two roads leading on to Ms X’s road, six on Ms X’s road and one outside Ms X’s house.
29. The Council’s Parking Enforcement Manager spoke to the Head Teacher of the school in September 2022. The Head Teacher spoke to the coach company which directed its drivers not to park longer than necessary to set down or pick up school children. The Head Teacher also said they had communicated with parents of school children and advised them they must follow parking restrictions. The Head Teacher explained the increase in parking offences at the beginning of the new school year was likely due to the parents of pupils new to the school being unfamiliar with the area. The Parking Enforcement Manager advised Ms X of this discussion by telephone and email.
30. In October 2022 the Council’s Parking Services discussed with the school further ways to address residents’ concerns about school vehicles. It agreed a new arrangement for the school minibus to park in a residents parking bay, which allowed the school coach to park in the minibus space. Previously it had parked on the road outside residents’ properties.

Analysis

31. In response to my enquires, the Council said Ms X did not tell the parking services she was vulnerable. The Council said there are few reasonable adjustments it can make as parking enforcement is a statutory process. CEOs can only take enforcement action when a contravention has occurred and when they witness it. The Council does not have facilities to remove vehicles. Its advice to Ms X would be to contact the police if her drive was blocked in an emergency. This would be the same advice it would give to any resident.
32. Considering Ms X asked drivers to move their vehicle shows in these instances, the vehicle had not been parked and left. It fits within the exemption of picking up or setting down passengers, providing they were only waiting for a reasonable period. This would not fall foul of the contravention and a CEO would not issue an PCN. If a CEO was present and witnessed a vehicle with the driver in the car waiting for its passenger, they would first ask the driver to move the vehicle.
33. The Council’s online information says it will send a CEO to the area following a report of a parking contravention, although this may not be immediately if they are patrolling elsewhere. The website does not say whether it responds to all reports of parking contraventions. Considering the information provided by the Council, the CEOs have responded to roughly 75% of Ms X’s reports. While this is not 100%, I consider it a high proportion, especially considering the number of regular patrols made locally. The Council is not at fault.
34. The CEOs tackled the issue of problem parking using their powers to issue PCNs in the local area. 1,132 PCNs were issued between January 2022 and March 2023 following 247 visits from CEOs. The figures show the CEOs were present in the area and penalised anyone not complying with the parking restrictions. They used their powers appropriately; the Council are not at fault.
35. The Parking Enforcement Manager was proactive in dealing with this matter and contacted the Head Teacher to consider alternative ways of dealing with the issue of problem parking, in addition to the regular patrols of the CEOs. The Council has tackled the issue at source to try and prevent problem parking. The Council has used several different ways to reduce residents’ concerns and is not at fault.
36. The Council can only use its powers of persuasion and statute to address problem parking, which it did. The Council cannot stop someone contravening parking restrictions.
37. Ms X said the situation has improved since she involved her local Councillor. The Council’s records show Ms X has not reported any parking contraventions since November 2022. There could be several reasons for the reduction in parking contraventions, as already described. There is no way of knowing if any particular action taken by Council Officers, Councillors or the School has made the difference. The end result is the same, the situation has improved and the injustice to Ms X and other residents has been limited.

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Final decision

38. I have completed my investigation. The Council is not at fault for how it tackled the issue of problem parking near Ms X’s home.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman