Transport for London (23 012 840)
Category : Transport and highways > Public transport
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Nov 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint about Transport for London prosecuting him for bringing an electric scooter onto the London Underground. This is because the complaint concerns the commencement of court action and as such it falls outside our jurisdiction.
The complaint
- The Complainant, Mr B, complains Transport for London (TfL) staff allowed him to take his electric scooter onto the London Underground but then prosecuted him for it. He also says an officer told him they needed his personal details for their own records but then used his details for TfL’s prosecution. Mr B believes TfL discriminated against him on the grounds of his ethnicity.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr B and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The law does not allow us to investigate any complaints about prosecutions taken by local authorities including TfL. We cannot therefore look at TfL’s decision to prosecute Mr B and we could not say its staff should have stopped Mr B from committing the offence in the first place.
- The magistrates’ court has considered TfL’s case against Mr B and as part of the process Mr B submitted a defence, which included his statement about how officers obtained his personal information and his claim of discrimination; we cannot therefore consider these points.
- However, even if we could it is unlikely we would investigate them further. This is because the officer required Mr B’s details in order to proceed with the prosecution and the court has now found he committed an offence. Further, it is not our role to decide if TfL discriminated against Mr B.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because it concerns TfL’s decision to prosecute Mr B and the law does not allow us to consider complaints about the commencement of court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman