The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council’s enforcement agent pursued a parking penalty charge notice debt. There is no Council fault.
The complaint
Mrs X complains the Council’s enforcement agent contacted her in April 2021 and demanded she pay a penalty charge notice debt. Mrs X says she is not disputing the debt but the enforcement agent made threats and she has since been accused of failing to keep to a payment plan. She does not believe she had the conversation with the enforcement agent to which the Council has referred. She wants the Council to agree an affordable payment plan. Mrs X says she has been threatened with an additional charge of 235 pounds and the situation has caused her stress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I have considered Mrs X’s information and comments and discussed the complaint with her by telephone. The Council has supplied key documents and a recording of its enforcement agent’s telephone conversation with Mrs X in April 2021.
My assessment
I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no Council fault and investigation will not change the position: A penalty charge notice (PCN) was issued to Mrs X on 21 August 2020. Mrs X tells me she was aware of the debt but moved before the matter was resolved.
There is no fault in the communications sent to Mrs X and the Council is correct there was an arrangement to pay which Mrs X did not keep. On 9 December 2020 the Council sent Mrs X a notice to owner at her current address requesting payment of the debt. On 21 April 2021 the enforcement agent sent a notice of enforcement to Mrs X requesting payment of the total debt of 188 pounds. Mrs X contacted the enforcement agent and agreed to pay the debt in two payments. The first payment was due at the end of that month when Mrs X said she was paid. Mrs X tells me she does not know why she did not pay at the time.
The enforcement agent who spoke to Mrs X on the telephone was polite and professional. The contact details given by Mrs X are the same as those used by this office to contact her. The Council was entitled to pursue enforcement after April 2021 which would likely incur extra charges.
Mrs X is not happy about the enforcement agent who she says made an allegation regarding her son and threatened to seize her car. There is no reason for the Ombudsman to investigate this complaint further. The appropriate way to resolve the matter is for Mrs X to pay the PCN debt which she has acknowledged owing.
Final decision
The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council’s enforcement agent pursued a parking penalty charge notice debt. There is no Council fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman