The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to consider a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) appeal. It would be reasonable for the complainant to apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to reinstate his appeal rights at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. The complaint is also late and there is no good reason to investigate it now.
The complaint
Mr F says the Council issued him with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for parking, which he paid and also appealed against. He disputes the Council’s statement it rejected his representations and wrote to him at the time.
Mr F says the Council has now sent debt collectors who also clamped his vehicles. As a result, he had to pay £500 which has left him in a lot of debt.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended) The Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT) considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for all areas of England outside London.
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended) The Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) is party of the county court and considers applications to set back the PCN procedure to reinstate appeal rights.
We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr F had a right to appeal against the parking fine at the TPT, which is an easy and free to use service set up by the government to consider parking fine disputes. Therefore, it would be reasonable for Mr F to have appealed against this fine at the TPT.
Mr F can also apply to the TEC and make a late witness statement about any fault in the Council’s handling of the enforcement and appeal process. The TEC can turn the clock back on the appeal process if it accept what Mr F says.
Mr F also says the matter has continued for the past two or three years. His complaint is therefore late and there is no reason he could not have brought it to us before. Even if he had, however, the other matters in this statement would have led us to the same decision not to investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr F’s complaint because he had the right to appeal against the fine at the TPT and can ask the TEC to reinstate his appeal right if he disputes what the Council says about its actions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman