The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council failing to consider his appeal after he paid a penalty charge notice which he would like refunded. This is because there is no evidence of a significant injustice to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
In short, Mr X complains about the Council failing to consider his appeal after he paid a penalty charge notice for straying into a bus lane.
Mr X says he has fined the Council £35 for providing misleading information. Mr X wants his payment of £35 refunded as he says the Council’s documents say if you win the appeal, it will repay any monies paid.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended) The Traffic Penalty Tribunal considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for all areas of England outside London.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Because Mr X admits straying into the bus line and paying the PCN, he has lost his rights of appeal including any informal consideration by the Council outside of the statutory appeals procedure.
While it is open to the Council to cancel the fine at any time, the statutory process expects dissatisfied complainants to appeal ultimately to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (as outlined in paragraph four) before paying. There is no option to pay and then appeal. Notwithstanding all of this, Mr X’s claimed injustice of £35 does not represent a significant enough injustice to warrant an investigation as we only investigate the most serious complaints.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint seeking a refund of his £35 payment because the amount is not significant enough to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman