Decision Report 201502023

Summary

Mr C complained that he had been required by the council to pay an additional fee when renewing his taxi licence. The payment was for the provision of a taxi marshal service, which had then taken 22 months to provide. Mr C said he believed the council had acted unreasonably. Mr C also said his complaint on the matter had been ignored by the council.

We found that the payment was taken prior to the scheme being set up, as it was a requirement that taxi administration be self-funding. It was, therefore, unavoidable that there would be some delay between the payment being taken and the scheme starting. The council had provided evidence that the creation of the new position required a significant re-organisation of the operational area in which it sat. It had then subsequently been delayed by a change in legislation. We found that the council had kept the taxi liaison group properly informed during this period and that there was no evidence of widespread dissatisfaction with the scheme. We did not uphold this aspect of the complaint.

The council had acknowledged that their initial response to Mr C's complaint was late. We found that this was due to human error, rather than systemic failure and although we upheld this aspect of Mr C's complaint, it was not proportionate to make any further recommendations.