The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice as Mr X can appeal against it to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council issued him with a penalty charge notice (PCN) for parking without displaying a valid parking ticket. Mr X says he had paid to park but that he had not displayed the ticket correctly. Mr X wants the Council to cancel the fine. Mr X also complains about issues he has experienced in challenging the PCN and that the amount has now increased.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Parliament has provided an appeal procedure for motorists to challenge PCNs, ultimately to an independent tribunal, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT). It is reasonable to expect Mr X to follow this procedure to obtain the outcome he seeks ie for the PCN to be cancelled. The TPT can cancel the PCN; we cannot.
Mr X also complains he was unable to use the Council’s online portal to challenge the PCN and so he had to submit a complaint which he says the Council has not responded to. Mr X complains that as a result the PCN amount has increased.
The Council’s PCNs increase to £50 from £25 if payment or a representation is not made within 14 days. The injustice to Mr X from the alleged Council fault is therefore the increased cost of £25. This does not represent a level of injustice sufficient to warrant our involvement.
For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he can appeal the PCN to the TPT and any injustice to Mr X from how the Council dealt with his complaint is insufficient to warrant our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman