The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the increased cost of a penalty charge notice as it is unlikely we will find fault by the Council or that we can achieve the outcome the complainant seeks.
The complaint
Mr X complained he had paid a penalty charge notice (PCN), the Council had issued to him, online at the discounted amount of £35. Mr X complained the PCN increased to £70 as his payment did not go through and he wants the Council to allow him to pay the discounted rate.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says he paid the PCN online but it transpired the payment had not gone through. Mr X says there was no indication of this at the time he paid but has no corroborating evidence of this.
The Council has checked its payment system and says there is no record of an attempted payment being made. It also checked its online payment portal and was satisfied that Mr X’s PCN was properly presented there for payment. The Council advised that its payment portal would have provided a payment receipt had the payment gone through and a failed receipt had it not.
While I recognise Mr X is unhappy at having to pay the increased amount, there is insufficient indication of fault by the Council to justify our further involvement. Mr X has no corroborating evidence of a fault with the Council’s payment system and the Council says checks it has completed indicate no problems with it.
We also cannot recommend the outcome Mr X seeks in the absence of fault.
For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely we will find fault by the Council and we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman