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Case ref:201103053
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Date:July 2012
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Body:Fife Council
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Sector:Local Government
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Outcome:Some upheld, recommendations
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Subject:Complaints handling
Summary
Mr C complained that the council had changed the process for issuing Blue European Parking Badges. He said that he had twice before used documentation from 1999 relating to his Disability Living Allowance to renew his blue badge. Because this was no longer accepted he felt this demonstrated that there had been a change about which he had not been advised. He also said that the council had stopped issuing reminders for renewals. We did not uphold the complaint as the council provided evidence showing that their policy had always been that documents in support of an application should have been issued within the previous 12 months. We also found that governmental policy suggested councils could issue reminders but were not required to do so.
Mr C also complained that his complaint about his treatment, when attending council offices, was not investigated properly. We upheld this complaint as we found that the investigation conducted was not sufficiently impartial, and did not consider Mr C’s version of events nor address the allegations made by him.
Recommendation
We recommended that the council:
• apologise to Mr C for the failings identified with the manner in which they dealt with his complaint.