Decision Report 201508015

Summary

Mr C complained to us about parking tickets that he had received from the council. Mr C had appealed some of the charges but the council had rejected his appeal. He then appealed the charges to the independent body that deals with appeals but at that stage, the council decided not to contest his appeal.

Mr C complained to us that the council had failed to action his report of faulty ticket machines. We found that the council had delayed in correcting the signs on the machines about the coins they would accept and we upheld this part of Mr C's complaint. He also complained about the council's handling of the appeals. We found that although Mr C had been inconvenienced by the fact that he had to submit a second appeal to the independent body, the decisions taken on the appeals by the council were decisions they were entitled to take and there was no evidence of procedural failings. Mr C also complained that the council had not told him why they had decided not to contest his appeal. However, this was also a decision they were entitled to take. We did not uphold these aspects of Mr C's complaint.

Mr C complained that the council had failed to respond reasonably to issues he had raised about the legal position of the parking spaces. We found that the council's response to him on this matter had been reasonable and proportionate. We did not uphold this complaint.

Finally, Mr C complained that the council had not followed their complaints procedure when dealing with his complaints. We found that there had been delays in dealing with Mr C's complaint. The council had only recorded the matter as a complaint after this office became involved. We also found that the council had not adequately responded to all of the issues he raised. We upheld this aspect of Mr C's complaint.

Recommendations

We recommended that the council:

• issue a written apology to Mr C for the delay in correcting the signage and the failures in relation to the handling of his complaint;
• provide evidence to confirm that in future, where required, the signage on parking meter machines will be updated promptly; and
• confirm that the staff involved in handling Mr C's complaints have been made aware of our decisions.