Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about correspondence being sent to the wrong address. This is because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, and there is no significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council wrote to his old address about a parking ticket. He says the Council gave him incorrect information about this, and that staff were rude. Mr X says this was stressful and he had to take time off work to deal with it. Mr X would like the Council to pay him for the time spent resolving the issue.

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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, or

(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 Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X was given a parking fine in December 2024. In 2025 he advised the Council he had moved. However, it continued to write to his old address, which led to bailiffs being instructed. Mr X found out about this in 2026.
6. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council writing to the wrong address. This is because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. The Council accepts it gave Mr X incorrect information about changing his address. The Council has investigated Mr X’s complaint and has made recommendations to prevent similar problems from happening again.
7. Also, any injustice to Mr X is not significant enough to justify our involvement. Although Mr X says he had to take time off work to resolve the issue, it was his choice to do this. Once he became aware of the problem and told the Council, it acted quickly to stop the bailiffs taking any further action.
8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that a member of staff was rude during a call. This is because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. The Council accepts there was a delay in dealing with Mr X’s complaint, which meant call recordings were not available. It has apologised to Mr X for not dealing with his complaint sooner and made recommendations to stop this happening again. Although I appreciate Mr X says staff were rude, without any further evidence we cannot, on balance, determine what happened during the call.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman