Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of reports of irresponsible and illegal parking. This is because there is not enough evidence of significant personal injustice and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about illegal and irresponsible parking near to a school at the end of the school day. He says the parking is dangerous for him, other pedestrians and other road users. He would like the Council to enforce the parking restrictions already in place to deter people from parking in the area.

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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 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X has reported the irresponsible and illegal parking to the Council. He says he is not satisfied with the Council’s response to his reports.
6. The Council has said the area is one of its priority sites for patrolling and following Mr X’s complaints it made additional patrols. The Council also detailed its road safety programme it delivers in schools.
7. The Council’s response is adequate in the circumstances and the actions it has taken are proportionate. These are actions we would expect and further investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a different outcome.
8. While I understand Mr X’s frustration with parents parking irresponsibly and illegally, we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. As a publicly funded body we must be careful how we use our resources. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of injustice to Mr X which is serious enough to warrant an investigation and we could not achieve a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman