The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about information the Council provided to Mr X about his right of appeal when he applied for a Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence. This is because the Council has changed the information it provides to applicants and there is nothing further we could achieve.
The complaint
Mr X says the Council did not provide him with information about his right of appeal when it gave him the conditions for his hackney carriage vehicle licence. Mr X said he tried to appeal but this was rejected by the courts because he was out of time.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) 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 X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says he went to court to appeal a condition attached to his hackney carriage vehicle licence. Mr X says the court refused to hear his appeal as it told him he should have made his appeal within 21 days. Mr X says the court ordered him to pay the Council’s costs.
Mr X complained to the Council saying it had failed to provide him with information about his right of appeal when he applied for his vehicle licence.
The Council wrote to Mr X and said the information it provided to him complied with the law. The Council acknowledged information about appeal rights could be clearer and said it would amend information given out to applicants in future.
As the Council has already amended the information it gives to applicants there is nothing further we could achieve from investigating this complaint. Therefore we will not investigate this complaint.
Mr X says the Council’s actions meant he was not aware of the time limit for appealing to court about conditions on his license. He says that this is why his appeal failed. We cannot investigate what happened in court. It was open to Mr X to raise his concerns about the information the Council provided to him about his appeal rights as part of his appeal and as an explanation as to why his appeal was late. Therefore we cannot investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint as there is nothing further we can achieve from an investigation. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about what happened in court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman