Decision report 201004316

Summary
In error, Mrs A paid the amount of a council parking fine twice. She contacted the council to request a refund, but this was not paid until over three weeks later. As Mrs A did not have the amount of twice the fine in her bank account, the account was overdrawn, which attracted charges, and she struggled to meet her basic expenses. Mrs C complained that the time taken to refund the overpayment was unreasonable. The council advised that the time taken to refund the overpayment was due to payments to them not being collected immediately and the process for making such a refund needing to be carefully verified and authorised.

Mrs C was dissatisfied and raised her complaints with the SPSO. We decided that the council's explanation had been reasonable in the circumstances and could see no evidence of the maladministration or service failure alleged.