Summary: Mrs B says the Council gave her wrong advice about whether she could use her blue badge to park in a business parking bay, wrongly told her it would cancel any penalty charge notices issued and delayed responding to her complaint. It is likely the Council gave Mrs B wrong information about where she could park with her blue badge, the Council delayed responding to her complaint and failed to consider the complaint properly. An apology and payment to Mrs B is satisfactory remedy.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs B, complained the Council:
• gave her wrong advice about whether she could use her blue badge to park in a business parking bay;
• wrongly told her if she received a penalty charge notice it would be a mistake and would be easily cancelled;
• delayed responding to her complaint and communications which meant she incurred further penalty charge notices; and
• failed to consider her complaint properly.
2. Mrs B says she incurred significant costs to park elsewhere which she would not have incurred because she would not have signed the lease if she had known she could not park in the business parking bays. Mrs B says there has also been a significant impact on her mental health.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. When considering complaints we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
5. 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

6. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and Mrs B's comments;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided.
7. Mrs B and the organisation 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

Blue badge scheme local authority guidance (England) (the guidance)

8. The scheme provides a national range of on-street parking concessions to blue badge holders. It allows them to park without charge or time limit in otherwise restricted on-street parking environments and allows them to park on yellow lines for up to three hours, unless a loading ban is in place.
9. Ensuring all successful applicants are properly informed of - and understand - what they can and cannot do with a badge is likely to reduce the chances of accidental misuse occurring and avoid disputes. The badge holder is supplied with a copy of the guidance leaflet ‘The Blue Badge scheme: rights and responsibilities in England’. Local authorities may wish to consider producing further, free information leaflets, informing local badge holders of where they can park in the local authority and conditions of use at each site, to help badge holders to use the badge correctly.
10. Appendix A of the guidance says the Regulations cover traffic orders which are made by local authorities under various sections of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, and which lay down parking restrictions or impose parking charges on motorists. The effect of the Regulations is to require local authorities to include in such orders certain exemptions in favour of vehicles displaying a Blue Badge. This includes:
• allowing badge holders to park free of charge and without time limit at ‘on-street;’
• parking in disabled parking bays unless signs say otherwise.
• allowing badge holders to park on single or double yellow lines for up to three hours in England, unless there is a ban on loading or unloading.

The blue badge scheme: rights and responsibilities in England

11. This document says the blue badge is not a licence to park anywhere. It says users must obey the rules of the road, as laid out in the Highway Code. It provides a list of places where you must not park:
• Places where a ban on loading or unloading is in force, as indicated by kerb markings. It says users may wish to check whether a particular local council has, exceptionally, chosen to allow blue badge holders to park where there are loading restrictions.
• Parking places reserved for specific users such as resident’s bays or loading bays. It says users may wish to check whether a particular local council has chosen to exempt blue badge holders from these restrictions.
• Pedestrian crossings (zebra, pelican, toucan and puffin crossings), including areas marked by zig-zag lines.

What happened

12. Mrs B is disabled and has a blue badge. Mrs B was looking to rent a property where parking bays outside were restricted to business permit holders. On 25 August 2023 Mrs B contacted the Council by WhatsApp to ask whether she could park in a business permit area using her blue badge. In response the Council advised Mrs B to contact its parking services team for advice. Mrs B tried to do that but reported difficulties getting through on the number provided. The Council therefore advised her, via WhatsApp, it would pass her contact details on to a manager as her query related to parking restrictions rather than applying for blue badges. Mrs B made clear she was on a time limit to confirm her accommodation and said she had lost a property that morning and there was only one property remaining.
13. Mrs B says she later spoke to a Council officer who confirmed she could park in the business permit area using her blue badge. Mrs B says on that basis she signed a tenancy for the property which had a 12 month minimum term.
14. Mrs B contacted the Council on WhatsApp again on 12 September 2023 as she had received a penalty charge notice for parking in the business bay. Mrs B made clear the officer she had spoken to at the Council assured her it was okay to use her disabled badge to park in the bay. Mrs B also said the officer told her she would not receive a penalty charge notice if she displayed her blue badge and she had done so. In response the Council advised Mrs B about how to challenge the penalty charge notice.
15. Mrs B contacted the Council again by WhatsApp on 14 September as she had received another penalty charge notice. Mrs B raised concerns and said it was having an impact on her mental health. Mrs B said there was no other parking near the building close enough for her to walk to and from without significant medical and psychological issues. Mrs B again made clear she had made sure it was okay to park there by contacting the Council before she signed her lease. Mrs B asked whether the Council could loan her a business permit as an exception and said she was happy to pay for that given she was only a temporary resident until August 2024. The Council directed Mrs B to parking services. Mrs B put in a representation, explaining what she had already told the Council about her conversation with an officer before she signed her lease.
16. Mrs B incurred a further penalty charge notice on 18 September and contacted the Council again to explain what she had been told. Mrs B explained the impact on her as she was now checking her car several times a day which was exacerbating her physical health issues.
17. The Council acknowledged receipt of the complaint on 19 September and said it would respond within two weeks.
18. Mrs B contacted the Council after receiving further penalty charge notices on 22 and 23 September. Mrs B provided the Council with details about the impact the situation was having on her mental health.
19. The Council wrote to Mrs B on 26 September to reject her informal challenge to the penalty charge notice issued on 12 September. That was on the basis Mrs B did not have a permit to park in the business permit holder bay and made clear she was not entitled to park in that location with her blue badge. The Council said it could review the case further if she provided documentary evidence from the officer she spoke to, confirming she had received incorrect information. The letter explained Mrs B’s options which were to pay or wait for the notice to owner which would give her the right to appeal. The Council sent the same letter for the other penalty charge notices Mrs B received.
20. Mrs B chased the Council for a response to her complaint on 26 September, 5 and 10 October. Mrs B raised concerns about how much it would cost her to park in the closest car park to her address and said she would also need to pay for a taxi to and from the car park each time she wanted to use her car. Mrs B said she could not always use taxis due to her anxiety but could not walk to her car in the car park due to her medical conditions. In her later email Mrs B explained she had unwillingly signed up for a season ticket at the car park at a cost of £250.80 per month which she could not afford.
21. The Council responded to the complaint on 31 October. The letter explained Mrs B could not park in a business permit holder bay unless she had a valid permit and therefore the penalty charge notices had been issued correctly. The letter explained the Council could not trace the call Mrs B made to the Council as it only kept calls for 28 days for training and quality purposes.
22. Mrs B asked the Council to take the complaint to the next stage on 1 December 2023. The Council responded on 2 February 2024. The Council partially upheld the complaint. The Council accepted it had provided Mrs B with wrong information about the restrictions for blue badge holders in business parking areas. The Council accepted if it had communicated with Mrs B quicker that may have prevented her incurring further penalty charge notices. The Council offered a financial remedy of £150 to reflect her avoidable stress. The Council also accepted it had delayed responding to the complaint and apologised. The Council said it would undertake a review to ensure the information provided about blue badge parking was up-to-date and accurate. The Council said though it believed it had issued the penalty charge notices correctly.
23. In response to my enquiry the Council said it had reconsidered what had happened in this case. The Council said when responding to the complaint at stage two the investigating officer confirmed he had misunderstood the WhatsApp information. The Council noted as there was no call record for the telephone call Mrs B had with one of its officers it could not confirm what information it had given her. The Council said when providing a resident with advice the officer would check the contact centre FAQs and the Council’s website before providing an answer. The Council said as the FAQ sheet did not contain any information about blue badges and parking in business bays and as the website said blue badge holders could only park in designated parking bays and other pay-and-display bays for free it did not accept it had provided Mrs B with incorrect information.
24. The Council said it considered it had issued the parking charge notices correctly and did not believe it was responsible for the parking charges Mrs B had since incurred because of seeking alternative parking arrangements for the length of her lease. The Council said Mrs B had received correct advice about how to appeal each of the parking charges.
25. The Council accepted though it had delayed responding to the stage one stage two complaints and considered the financial remedy of £150 appropriate.

Analysis

26. Mrs B says the Council gave her wrong advice about whether she could park in a business permit bay when she contacted it before she signed a lease for her property. Mrs B says the officer she spoke to told her because she had a blue badge she could park in a business bay if the blue badge was displayed and any penalty charge notices issued would be cancelled.
27. The Council cannot confirm what information its officer gave Mrs B on the telephone. That is because it has not kept the recording of the telephone call as it only keeps recordings for 28 days unless there is a specific reason for it to keep it for longer. I consider the Council had a reason to keep the telephone recording for longer in this case because Mrs B contacted the Council on 12 September 2023, which is within 28 days of the call, to say she had spoken to an officer who had assured her it was okay to use her disabled badge to park in the business bay and she had received a penalty charge notice. Mrs B had also put in a complaint within 28 days of the call as well as putting in challenges to the earlier penalty charge notices. All of that should have put the Council on notice it needed to retain the recording of the telephone call to respond to the points Mrs B had raised. Failure to do that is fault. That has caused significant difficulty in this case because neither I nor the Council can confirm what information Mrs B received over the telephone.
28. As there is no record of the telephone call I have to reach a decision based on the balance of probability. I have taken into account the WhatsApp correspondence between Mrs B and the Council. I note Mrs B was clear with the officer dealing with the WhatsApp message she needed a response urgently about whether she could park in the business bay because there was only one property left to rent and she had already missed out on one.
29. Given the attempts Mrs B made to obtain advice from the Council I consider it unlikely, on the balance of probability, Mrs B would have signed the lease for the property without having received confirmation she could park in the business parking bay. I therefore consider it likely, on the balance of probability, the Council misled Mrs B.
30. I consider that fault caused Mrs B significant injustice as she incurred penalty charge notices and has had to pay for parking at a nearby car park. I am also satisfied that due to Mrs B’s disabilities, which is why she has a blue badge in the first place, she has also had to pay for taxis to go to and from the car park when she needs to use her car. In addition, I am satisfied Mrs B has experienced significant distress. Added to that, the Council failed to properly address the concerns Mrs B raised in her stage one complaint and delayed responding to both complaints. That also contributed to the fact the Council no longer has the telephone call recording to access.
31. Mrs B has set out the financial loss she has experienced because of the Council’s fault. When seeking to remedy a complaint the Ombudsman will usually try to put the person that has complained back in the position they would have been in but for the fault. I am satisfied if the Council had not misled Mrs B she would likely, on the balance of probability, have not signed up for the lease and would not have incurred penalty charge notices or had to pay for parking elsewhere and taxis to and from the car park. I therefore recommended the Council pay Mrs B £3,573.92, which are her actual losses. In addition I recommended the Council pay Mrs B £500 to reflect the distress she has experienced and an additional £300 as a contribution to the interest charges she incurred on a loan she took out. That makes a total financial remedy of £4,373.92. The Council has agreed to my recommendations. I do not make any further recommendation for remedy as I am satisfied the Council has now updated its website so the same situation should not occur again.

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Agreed action

32. Within one month of my decision the Council should:
• apologise to Mrs B for the distress and upset she experienced due to the faults identified in this decision. The Council may want to refer to the Ombudsman’s updated guidance on remedies, which sets out the standards we expect apologies to meet; and
• pay Mrs B £4,373.92.

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Final decision

33. I have completed my investigation and uphold the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman