Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a disabled blue badge bay because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Miss Y complained the Council has failed to enforce against incorrect parking in a disabled blue badge space outside her property, which she says was installed at her request. Miss Y is also unhappy the Council has refused to personalise the bay for her specific use to stop others from using it.
2. Miss Y says the issue has led to harassment from another member of the public and anti-social behaviour, leaving her daughter deeply upset. Miss Y also says the issue is having a significant impact on her independence as she does not feel safe when leaving her property and she often must park a long way from her home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information Miss Y and the Council provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss Y says the blue badge bay was installed after she made a request to the Council for it, approximately seven years ago. Miss Y says that since the bay was installed, she has regularly found others parked in the bay, who are using blue badges incorrectly. This has meant that she has had to park elsewhere, often on another street, which has meant she has had trouble being able to park suitably close to her property so she can walk between her car and her home.
7. Miss Y complained to the Council about the issue. The Council has visited Miss Y’s property several times to discuss the problem with her. It has explained that it is unable, due to data protection issues, to give her full details of its investigation into the matter, but has reassured her that it has been monitoring the issue for several months, but due to the level of evidence needed to bring the matter to court, must continue its enquiries into the matter before proceeding.
8. The Council has also provided Miss Y with information about what details she can provide where there are reports and has agreed to consider a more coordinated approach to its monitoring to target the issue. This approach is in line with the type of actions we would expect the Council to carry out in such cases, and it has properly considered both its power to act and the need for sufficient evidence for a potential court action. Consequently, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigation.
9. Miss Y has also complained that the Council has not made the bay reserved for her or to personalise the bay so that its use is linked with her blue badge. Miss Y is aware that the bay is for blue badge users and is not specifically for her but has suggested that this type of personalisation is available in other boroughs.
10. However, this Council has its own policy, which it is entitled to have, which does not provide such a specification for a single blue badge to be linked to a blue badge bay. Further, where such specific blue badge bays do exist, these are usually not enforceable and are used only to discourage other blue badge users from parking. It is not however fault for the Council to have decided not to provide this service as there is no duty on it to do so. Consequently, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigation in this case. Therefore, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss Y’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman