The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the process for buying visitor parking vouchers. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and insufficient evidence of injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, says the process to buy visitor parking vouchers is not fit for purpose because errors cannot be corrected. Mr X is sure many people will have complained about the same issue. Mr X says the system should be changed so errors can be corrected.
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 an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence and information about how many people have complained about the same issue. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.
My assessment
To buy vouchers people must create an account, buy the vouchers and then activate them. To activate a voucher the person must go on-line and fill in the car registration and date and time. A voucher can be deactivated before the activation period starts. A visitor permit costs £3. The terms and conditions say the Council will not offer refunds for vouchers.
Mr X complained he had put in the wrong date for a voucher and could not get a refund. He wanted a refund and for the Council to change the process. He said the system should allow people to make changes. He says it is unhelpful when activating vouchers that the system defaults to the current date.
In response the Council said the process requires people to provide the correct information and this is explained on the website. The Council explained that vouchers can be deactivated provided the activation period has not started. It said changes cannot be made after the activation period has started to prevent people from benefitting from invalid free parking.
The Council told me that in the last three months only Mr X has complained about this issue and, over a longer period, only a small number of people have raised this as a complaint. It also says that call centre staff are not aware of people raising this as a problem.
I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The website advises people to provide the correct information but, if a mistake is made, the voucher can be deactivated in advance. I have looked at screenshots of the application process and there is nothing that looks confusing and nothing which suggests an investigation is needed. The Council agrees the system defaults to the current date when people activate a voucher and says this is because many people activate on the day the voucher is needed. The low number of complaints received by the Council does not suggest the system is causing a problem.
I also will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of injustice. The complaint correspondence suggests Mr X made a mistake with one voucher which is a loss of £3. This is not a level of injustice requiring an investigation and, even if he had a problem with more than one voucher, it is still unlikely to represent a degree of injustice requiring an investigation.
Final decision
We will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman