London Borough of Sutton (24 016 839)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Feb 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about Council car park signage. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigation.
The complaint
- Mrs X complained a Council car park has poor signage saying it will be locked overnight.
- She says it should use better signs and put the information on the ticket.
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 or continue 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 the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In December 2024 Mrs X parked her car in a Council operated car park. She says she saw signs advising the car park closed at 8:30pm and checked the car park website.
- Mrs X returned to her car after 8:30pm and found the car park to be locked and could not remove her car. Mrs X complained to the Council that she did not know the car park would be locked.
- In its complaint responses to Mrs X the Council said there are multiple signs both inside and outside the car park advising it would close at 8:30pm and car release was not possible. It provided Mrs X with photographs of the signs and said that CCTV footage of Mrs X’s visit, showed herself and her passenger walking past the signs. It said the terms closed and locked were interchangeable and it had provided the necessary information to car park users.
- We will not investigate Mrs X complaint, the Council provided signs and information on its website about the car parks closure time. We would be unlikely to find fault by the Council to warrant further investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant further investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman