Council found guilty of harassment by Government ombudsman

[xfox]

My local council has been found guilty of harassment by Government Ombudsman.

He says the council should pay me £100.

 

It was for an unenforceable parking ticket (which I didn't owe but they kept on chasing).

Bailiffs were NOT involved as I kept getting the orders cancelled.

 

Should I just take the £100 or is it worth going through the county court.

The council is putting the public at serious harm, and plenty of complaints about them in the press,

from ex-council staff and the drivers.

[citizenB]

In what way are the Council guilty of harming the public ?

[xfox]

There are suppose to the deal with appeals within 10 working days, but it's taking 56 days.

The Ombudsman say they have their procedures WRONG and they need to change it.

 

Also, when you send in letters, or write information on appeal forms, the council don't read it, just reply with template letters.

 

Whole department is buckling under pressure, lots of complaints by drivers.

[BankFodder]

Which council please - and what are the facts

[citizenB]

Yes, I understand that xfox, what I don't understand is your statement that they are guilty of "harming" the public ?

 

If you are going to issue a claim against them for more compensation and you are going to be making that statement within your claim, you will need to back it up.

[xfox]

I need to keep the name of the council name withheld for a few days,

but it was for an unenforceable parking ticket, told them it was unenforceable, told them it was harassment, they just carried on anyway.

[xfox]

Yes, I understand that xfox, what I don't understand is your statement that they are guilty of "harming" the public ?

 

If you are going to issue a claim against them for more compensation and you are going to be making that statement within your claim, you will need to back it up.

 

The ombudsman upheld my complaint of harassment (against me) , they've not been found guilty of causing harm to the public.

 

I said The council is putting the public at serious harm, because of their broken procedures, they ignore letters.

I can track down other drivers who are having the same problems and bring them into court as witnesses (I have their details) etc

We can't all be wrong.

[ploddertom]

Is the Ombudsman going to release this as a published decision. If so I would suggest you post a copy up when it is released.

[Jamberson]

Tell us what happened to you.

[ploddertom]

If you want to go to Court then you must not accept payment from the Council & write to the Ombudsman disagreeing with their decision as you want more money. You cannot have it both ways.

[JoeyJoeC]

Why was the ticket unenforceable? Just curious?

[Jamberson]

If it was unenforceable, it would normally have been cancelled by whoever ruled it to be unenforceable (eg an adjudicator). It would not have resulted in compensation for harassment under any circumstances I can think of. But unless we are told the whole story, the thread isn't much use.

[ericsbrother]

As the ombudsman has made a determination that is the decision of the court so suing the council will cost you a fee and you will win exactly £100. However, you may have the council's costs to pay on top.

I believe that the ombudsman has decided the council is guilty of maladministration because of.................. that may include a list of all sorts of things but wont be harassment so you have to separate the 2 things if you really want to take this up. Personally I would take the £100 and if they then carry on chasing you take the matter further on its own merits. However, you can write to your councillors, make a complaint to the local paper about their blind stupidity etc and get them to change their ways that way. The person doing the decision making at this level is probably just not being monitored by their bosses properly and a formal complaint will be enough to put an end to things at no expense to yourself.

[Jamberson]

The obmudsman isn't a court, and the local paper can't take complaints. The PCN appeals process is extremely simple. There's never a situation where courts are needed or people are compensated for harassment or the council is sued and so on. It's really very easy - if the OP can be bothered to tell us the back story, all will become clear. However he sems to have vanished - probably because the back story shows up how absurd his own actions have been. (Sorry, I hate to make a judgement, but that's how it always turns out to be.)