Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to issue a refund after the complainant surrendered his taxi driver licence. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council will not issue a partial reimbursement of fees after he surrendered his taxi driver licence. He says the Council does not provide any information about refunds and he is out of pocket due to the lack of information.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence, the legislation and information on the Council’s website. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Mr X renewed his taxi driver licence. Three weeks later he stopped working as a taxi driver because he got a different job. Mr X asked for a reimbursement of part of the fees because he paid £179 for a two year licence but only worked for three weeks after renewing his licence. The Council said it does not offer refunds.
5. Mr X complained. He said there is nothing in the policy about refunds. The Council agreed it does not say anything about refunds in the policy but there is no requirement to offer refunds. The Council said it would consider adding some information to its website but said it is not wrong that there is not currently any information about refunds.
6. Mr X says other councils give refunds and the Council should include information about refunds as part of the renewal process.
7. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The law does not say anything about refunds and does not require councils to issue them. The Council’s policy does not refer to refunds but also says the policy document offers guidance and is not an exhaustive statement.
8. I have checked the websites of a small number of other councils and there is a mixed approach; some offer refunds, some do not, and some do not refer to refunds. The Council is not required to offer a refund simply because that is a policy decision made by some other councils, especially when there is no requirement to issue refunds. In addition, it is for each council to decide what information to provide; the fact the Council did not refer to refunds when Mr X renewed his licence does not amount to fault requiring an investigation.
9. Mr X says he has lost out financially, but we would only consider a financial remedy if there was evidence of fault. As there is insufficient evidence of fault this is not something we could remedy.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman