St Albans City Council (24 010 891)

Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 30 Oct 2024

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about car parking charges. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council. Mr X clearly disagrees with the charges but it is not for us to say the Council must change them.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about car parking charges at a Council-run leisure centre. He is unhappy the Council only provides two hours of free parking and that charges for using the car park apply until 10pm.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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 do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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. We are not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong.
  2. The car park at the leisure centre is a public car park and the Council is entitled to make its own decisions about charges for using it. It has agreed an exemption for leisure centre users which means they do not have to pay for the first two hours and while Mr X thinks it should give people longer there is no requirement for it to do so.
  3. There is nothing stopping Mr X from parking for longer than two hours if he wishes to spend longer at the leisure centre; he will just have to pay for any period over two hours. If he does not think this is acceptable he could look for free parking nearby or he may choose to go elsewhere.

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Final decision

  1. 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

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