The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about penalty charge notices issued to taxis using the Council’s bus lanes as it reasonable to expect those in receipt of such notices to use the appeal right provided in law.
The complaint
Mr X complains there is a problem with the Council bus lane signs and that out of town taxi drivers are being wrongly issued with penalty charge notices (PCN) for entering bus lanes. Mr X wants the Council to cancel such PCNs and refund any fines already paid.
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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants (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
The law provides a statutory appeal procedure to challenge PCNs, ultimately to parking adjudicators at independent tribunals. It is, in general, reasonable to expect any motorist to follow this procedure if they consider a PCN has been wrongfully issued. We are not an appeal body and are unable to cancel PCNs that have been issued.
For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because Parliament has provided an appeal mechanism for motorists to challenge PCNs and it is reasonable to expect them to use it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman