The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council issued Mr X with a penalty charge notice (PCN). This is because we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks or add to what the Council has already said.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council fraudulently issued him with a penalty charge notice (PCN) as the road where he parked was poorly marked. Mr X also complains the PCN left a residue on his car windscreen which put him and his family in needless danger. Mr X seeks damages for this. Mr X wants the PCN to be cancelled, for the issuing officer to be disciplined and retrained and for the road markings to be re-painted.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council considered and rejected Mr X’s representations against the PCN. It advised Mr X of his appeal rights. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have used these rights, ultimately via an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT) as it is the body with the power to consider his case about the road markings and whether the PCN ought to have been cancelled. We are not able to consider Mr X’s appeal or cancel the PCN.
The Council apologised for the manner in which the PCN was attached to Mr X’s car, but it did not accept that this put Mr X in danger. We cannot criticise the Council’s assessment of this or add to it. Only the courts can determine if the Council acted negligently in this regard and if so, what damages Mr X is entitled to.
The Council has raised the issue with how the PCN was attached to Mr X’s car with its staff. We cannot add to this, and we have no role to play in internal discipline matters.
For these reasons, we will not investigate
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks nor add to what the Council has already said.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman