The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s parking charges. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
The complaint
Mr C complains the Council only allows one hour of free parking for blue badge holders at a seafront car park. Mr C says he only stayed for two hours and had to pay £7 for parking as a blue badge holder. Mr C says this is too expensive and he is put off visiting this location.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr C and information on the Council’s website about parking charges in this location.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
It is for the Council to decide the charges for its car parks including whether to charge blue badge holders for parking.
The Council has decided to allow blue badge holders to park free of charge for one hour in this location. During peak season it costs £7 to park for up to four more hours. The Council says this charge reflects the additional costs the Council has to pay because of significant visitor numbers.
This is a decision for the Council to make and it is not our role to tell the Council to operate a different charging system.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr C’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman