Summary: Miss C complained the Council failed to take action when she reported illegal parking. Miss C says this has caused safety issues on the street which has caused her distress. We find the Council at fault for failing to take timely action to repaint the double yellow lines in the area and for failing to acknowledge Miss C’s correspondence as a complaint. The Council will apologise and make a symbolic payment of £100.

The complaint

1. Miss C complained the Council failed to take action when she reported illegal parking. Miss C said the illegal parking caused safety risks and hazards which causes her stress and anxiety. Miss C would like the Council to correctly repaint the double yellow lines and ensure they are visible to allow traffic enforcement to take place.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have spoken to Miss C and considered the evidence she provided.
5. I made enquiries of the Council and considered its response.
6. Miss C and the Council had an opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered comments from both parties before making a final decision.

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What I found

7. Miss C first contacted the Council in May 2023 to ask for its support with unlawful parking outside her workplace. Miss C explained cars were parking unlawfully on double yellow lines which meant herself and her colleagues could not complete their work without risk of damage. The Council responded and told Miss C to report the parking via email to its parking enforcement contractor.
8. Miss C emailed the parking enforcement contractor the same week but she did not receive a response. Miss C contacted the Council again in June 2023 to raise concerns over the unlawful parking. Miss C told the Council she did not receive a response from the contractor following her email to them in May 2023.
9. The Council contacted the parking enforcement contractor directly and asked it to carry out a patrol of the area. The Council apologised to Miss C and told her it had raised her concerns directly with its contractor.
10. At the end of June 2023 Miss C contacted the parking enforcement contractor again with evidence of unlawful parking. Miss C did not receive a response and so contacted the Council in early July asking it to complete a patrol of the area.
11. Miss C also raised concerns the Council had not yet taken any action following her contact in May 2023. The Council responded the following day and apologised for the continuing parking issues. The Council told Miss C it had added the street to a list of locations which need regular enforcement patrols.
12. At the end of July 2023, the Council sent Miss C’s correspondence to its parking enforcement team who contacted her and asked for further information. Miss C provided the information which the Council sent to its contractor for further investigation.
13. Miss C contacted the Council again in August 2023 as there had been no progress with the unlawful parking and the road remained unsafe. The Council responded to Miss C on the same day and explained it had recently taken on responsibility for parking enforcement, a job which had previously been shared between 10 boroughs, so it was taking time to refine its new responsibility.
14. The Council told Miss C to continue reporting unlawful parking to its parking enforcement contractor. The Council also contacted its contractor directly to ask an officer patrol the area.
15. In August 2023 an enforcement officer visited the street and issued 7 Parking Charge Notices. This deterred illegal parking for a short period of time. However, Miss C contacted the Council again one week later to advise cars were once again parking on the double yellow lines.
16. At the end of September 2023, an enforcement officer visited the street. The officer told the Council the double yellow lines were extremely faded and parking restrictions could not be enforced on the street until the lines were repainted.
17. The Council made its highways team aware of the issue and asked for the repainting work be completed. The Council told Miss C it would continue to patrol the area and enforce the parking restrictions once the double yellow lines had been repainted.
18. The Council has started work on repainting the double yellow lines. The Council has told us the work has not yet been completed due to cars being parked on the areas to be painted and weather conditions preventing the team from completing the work.

Complaint handling

19. The Council treated Miss C’s initial contact in May 2023 as a service request as it was the first time she contacted the Council to raise her concerns. The Council failed to recognise Miss C’s further contact throughout 2023 as complaints and continued to signpost her to contact its parking enforcement contractor directly when it should have followed its own complaints procedure.
20. The Council did not accept Miss C’s communications as a complaint until November 2023, following communication from the Ombudsman.

My findings

21. Miss C first raised concerns around unlawful parking in May 2023. The Council accepted there was unlawful parking in the area, but it could not complete enforcement due to the faded double yellow lines.
22. Although the Council promised to repaint the lines – almost a year ago – it has not yet done so. Regardless of the hindrances the Council describes, this represents a significant delay.
23. This delay means the Council has not been able to take enforcement action against unlawfully parked cars. This has caused Miss C distress, frustration and uncertainty.
24. The Council failed to follow its complaints procedure to resolve Miss C’s concerns which caused delay in addressing issues and also caused her distress.

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Agreed action

25. Within one month of the final decision the Council will:
• Provide an apology to Miss C for the failure to repaint the double yellow lines. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Pay Miss C £100 to recognise the distress caused by the failure to deal with formal complaint.
26. Within three months of the final decision the Council will:
• Complete the work it has started to ensure the double yellow lines are fully repainted and enforceable.
• Provide training for its contact centre and parking and traffic enforcement teams on recognising the difference between complaints and service requests and ensure that they understand the process for acknowledging and handling complaints whenever complaints are received.
27. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman