Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a parking/blue badge issue. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains he was harassed and bullied by council staff for parking in a disabled parking bay, despite explaining his blue badge had been stolen. He also complains the Council has not done enough to stop blue badge theft in the area.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. The Council acknowledges officers spoke to Mr X about his car but says they provided straightforward advice on how to comply with parking restrictions and avoid receiving a penalty charge notice (PCN). Mr X considers the officers’ actions amounted to harassment and that the harassment has increased with other civil enforcement officers (parking wardens) also taking issue with his parking practices and issuing him PCNs.
7. It is not possible to establish exactly what was said between Mr X and the officers and parking wardens but harassment is a matter for the police. If therefore Mr X believes council officers are harassing him he should report his concerns to them.
8. It is not fault for parking wardens to question parking which appears to be against the relevant regulations or to issue PCNs where they believe someone has contravened them; if the Council issues Mr X PCNs for parking in disabled parking spaces without displaying a blue badge, and if Mr X disputes the contravention, he may appeal.
9. Mr X believes the Council should do more to stop blue badge theft but there is no requirement for it to do more. The Council is reviewing the issue and says it will look at the practices of other local authorities, as suggested by Mr X, but it is not responsible for the criminal actions of third parties and we could not say it was fault not to stop them. The Council has set out several options for Mr X to address his concerns and there is no evidence of fault in its approach.
10. Mr X is also unhappy with the way the Council dealt with his complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman