The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s enforcement of a penalty charge notice as the complainant can ask the courts to consider her case.
The complaint
Ms X complained the Council sent enforcement agents to her home about an unpaid penalty charge notice (PCN). Ms X complained she had not received prior notices about the PCN and that the council refused to send her copies. Miss X says this has caused her distress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended) We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (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
Parliament has provided a mechanism by which motorists can challenge the enforcement of PCNs when something may have gone wrong in the enforcement process. In Ms X’s case, it was open to her to ask the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC), which is part of the county court system, to consider her case. The Council advised Ms X of this in its e-mail to her of 7 June 2024. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to have followed this procedure and as per paragraph two we will not therefore investigate.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the UK's independent data regulator and is best placed to assess how the Council dealt with Ms X’s request for copy documents.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because she could reasonably have asked the TEC to consider her case and the ICO is best placed to address her concerns about information rights.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman