London Borough of Newham (26 003 711)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 29 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a disabled parking bay. This is because the injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains about the Council’s handling of her application for a disabled parking bay. She says she applied in January 2026 to the Council but did not get a timely response. She says this has caused uncertainty and stress. Mrs X also complains about how the Council handled her complaint.
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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council did not respond to Mrs X’s application for a disabled parking bay within the published six-week timeframe. The Council sent a response to Mrs X within 10 weeks which stated it accepted the application.
- The Council’s response gives details of the process and confirms it can take up to 12 months to install the disabled parking bay from the date of Mrs X’s application.
- Although there was a delay of around four weeks in responding to Mrs X, the Council is still within its timescale to install the disabled parking bay. There is not enough evidence this delay caused significant injustice and we therefore will not investigate this complaint.
- Mrs X complains about the Council’s handling of her complaint. It is not a good use of our resources to investigate how a Council has handled a complaint if the substantive matter does not fall to be investigated. That is the case here.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of significant injustice to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman