Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council has failed to follow its parking enforcement policy. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mr X significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to enforce parking restrictions on the road outside his property. He says the Council is wrongly giving motorists who park on zig zag lines a verbal warning to move their vehicles, rather than issuing penalty charge notices (PCNs) immediately as per its policy.

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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 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

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

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My assessment

4. While the Council’s parking enforcement policy does not require the Council to offer a grace or observation period before issuing PCNs and allows for the possibility of issuing PCNs immediately, it is unlikely we would find fault by the Council in verbally warning motorists to move their vehicles before issuing a PCN.
5. However, even if we were to say the Council was at fault for its approach we could not say this causes Mr X significant injustice. This is because any suggestion that issuing PCNs immediately, as Mr X would like, would be significantly more effectively at deterring motorists from breaching the parking restrictions is entirely speculative. Mr X’s injustice ultimately stems from the actions of the motorists and the Council’s limited resources mean it cannot patrol the area as often as Mr X would like or resolve the issue entirely.
6. The Council has however confirmed it is in the process of purchasing a CCTV enforcement vehicle to deal with the kind of parking issues Mr X complains about and this may improve the situation for him in the future.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence to show the Council’s actions have caused Mr X significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman