Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council is failing to enforce its own rules and regulations in a park and ride car park. This is because it is not wrong for the Council to prioritise its resources, we have no powers to overrule such operational decisions on enforcement priorities and there is not a clear and direct enough link between the service failure Mr B has complained about and the injustice he has told us he has suffered.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr B, complained that the Council is failing to enforce its own rules and regulations in a park and ride car park. Mr B told us people are parking in the car park but not using the park and ride service. As a result, he says the service is often unavailable for commuters’ use. He says he and others then have to spend time and incur expense making alternative parking arrangements.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered the information Mr B provided and his comments on my draft decision.

Back to top

What I found

4. Mr B says he wants the Council to enforce the conditions of use of the facility by prohibiting those people working nearby from parking in the car park then walking off blatantly every day. Mr B says this happens with the full knowledge of employees on the site and the CCTV operators who monitor the site. He says the Council has failed to take his complaint seriously and what it said in response to his complaint is not supported by his own observations. He says the situation eventually became unmanageable so the Council has had to introduce parking restriction markings. He believes the Council could have avoided this by taking action against those who were not using the park and ride bus service.
5. Civil Enforcement Officers can issue penalty charge notices (PCNs) to motorists who are in breach of a Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO). The relevant TRO in this case says all drivers and passengers using the park and ride sites must do so with the intention of using the park and ride bus service. The Council says, using CCTV cameras, civil enforcement officers can see if users of the park and ride facility are complying with its term and conditions. The Council says civil enforcement officers do sometimes attend the site but they have to cover all of its parking sites. The Council has acknowledged this process has limitations because the officers cannot observe all contraventions and they do not currently check if users are using the bus service. It says the site Mr B has complained about is busy, usage is increasing and it cannot guarantee the availability of parking.
6. In its final response to this complaint the Council said its parking services team was considering a system which would identify if there is a level of misuse of the site which would need further consideration.
7. The law provides a power for the Council to enforce against contraventions, rather than a duty. It does not have a duty to issue a penalty charge notice every time a member of the public reports a contravention. We would expect the Council to take appropriate and proportionate action where resources allow.
8. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. Our role is to consider whether an individual complainant has suffered significant enough injustice as a result of fault by the Council in the way it has reached its decisions. The Council does not guarantee parking will be available at the site. While Mr B wants the Council to take enforcement action, we cannot say for certain how much difference this might make to him each time he tries to park there. There is not a clear and direct enough link between the service failure Mr B has complained about and the injustice he has told us he has suffered. It is not wrong for the Council to decide how to prioritise its limited civil enforcement resources across its area. That is a matter for the Council, not the Ombudsman, and we have no powers to overrule such operational decisions on enforcement priorities.

Back to top

Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is not wrong for the Council to prioritise its resources, we have no powers to overrule such operational decisions on enforcement priorities and there is not a clear and direct enough link between the service failure Mr B has complained about and the injustice he has told us he has suffered.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman