Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to Mr X’s query about land ownership as Mr X is not caused a significant injustice from this.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has not provided him with a clear response as to who owns land where he had parked his car and was issued with a penalty charge notice (PCN) for a parking contravention, by a district council. Mr X wants the PCN to be cancelled and for his money to be refunded.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The County Council did not issue the PCN to Mr X and is not involved in the matter, and as such, how it has responded to Mr X causes him no serious injustice. For this reason, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he is not caused a level of injustice from it to warrant our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman