Bristol City Council (25 013 770)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 04 Feb 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not approving an application for a disabled parking bay. This is because it is unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman would add to the Council’s response or achieve anything more for Mr X.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s failure to approve his application for a disabled parking bay outside his house. Mr X applied for the parking bay due to his wife’s health conditions and says the Council’s decision to refuse his applications have impacted her safety and quality of life.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide:
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
- there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X believes the Council failed to consider all the factors in his case when deciding not to approve his application for a disabled parking bay.
- The Council has now reviewed that decision and approved a disabled parking bay near Mr X’s house. This remedies the injustice caused by the alleged fault and I consider it unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman would achieve anything more for Mr X.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman would add to the Council’s response or achieve anything more for Mr X.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman