Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council moving the position of the disabled parking bay outside her property. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains the Council has moved the disabled parking bay outside her property and she is now worried her car will be hit by other vehicles.

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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 effect 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 the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. 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))
4. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X complained to the Council about it moving the location of the disabled parking bay outside her property after it installed her neighbour’s dropped kerb.
8. The Council explained the original disabled parking bay exceeded the standard size and so it needed to be reduced. This was due to an error by its contractors as it marked the bay one metre longer than it should have been when it was installed. It apologised to Mrs X for this initial error and explained it needed to correct it to ensure that emergency vehicles can access the road without difficulty.
9. It re-marked the new bay within the footprint of the original bay. As a result, the new bay position does not differ significantly from its original position.
10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because whilst I acknowledge she is unhappy with the bay’s new position there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council here to warrant an investigation. The positioning of the new bay is a matter of professional judgment for the Council’s relevant officers to assess, consider and decide. We are not an appeal body and it is not our role to question the merits of a decision the Council has made where, as here, there is no sign of fault in the way in which the decision was made.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman