The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice as Mr X had the right to appeal against it to an independent tribunal.
The complaint
Mr X complains about a penalty charge notice (PCN) the Council issued to him for a parking contravention. Mr X also complains the Council has failed to respond to a series of comments and questions he made to it about the PCN.
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) 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complains about the circumstances around him being issued with a PCN. The Council has considered Mr X’s representations against the PCN but has rejected them. Mr X has submitted further comments and questions to the Council but complains the Council has not responded.
The Traffic Management Act 2004, under which the PCN was issued, provides a statutory appeal process which Mr X can use to challenge the PCN, which culminates in an appeal to independent parking adjudicators at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT). As this is the prescribed method of challenging PCNs, and we do not have the remit to cancel them, it is reasonable to expect Mr X to follow it.
While I recognise Mr X is dissatisfied at not receiving a response to his further comments/questions to the Council, I do not consider he is caused a significant, separate injustice from this. The injustice to Mr X is the PCN and he can seek to remedy this by appealing.
For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he can appeal against the PCN to the TPT, and it is reasonable to expect him to do so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman