Summary: Ms X complained the Council incorrectly issued her with a Fixed Penalty Notice for fly tipping. She said she was put to unnecessary time and trouble disputing it which affected her mental health and studies. The Council was at fault when it failed to respond to Ms X’s dispute. It has taken appropriate action to remedy the injustice she experienced.

The complaint

1. Ms X said the Council incorrectly issued her with a Fixed Penalty Notice for fly tipping.
2. She said she had to spend time chasing the Council and the magistrates court to cancel the notice, which caused her stress and inconvenience.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the magistrates court. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered the information provided by Ms X. This includes email correspondence shared between her and the Council.
7. I wrote to Ms X and the Council and considered their comments before I made a final decision.

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What I found

Fixed Penalty Notice

8. Fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of waste. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, it is an offence to fly-tip. Councils can issue Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) to fine people who fly-tip.
9. If the Council issues an FPN and the person pays the fine the Council will close the case. If the person does not pay the fine the Council can prosecute.
   The person can raise a defence in court if they do not think they have committed an offence.

What happened

10. In July 2019, the Council issued Ms X with an FPN for fly-tipping. Ms X contacted the Council with details of the fine and asked how to appeal it.
11. The Council asked Ms X to provide a copy of the FPN, and she supplied this.
    The Council did not get back to Ms X and she chased it for a response in early August 2019, advising she would appeal the fine in court if the Council failed to respond.
12. The Council did not respond to Ms X’s request about how to dispute the FPN but wrote to her twice to remind her to pay the fine.
13. Ms X told the Council she was referring the matter to the Ombudsman because it had failed to address her request to dispute the FPN.
14. During our investigation, the Council said it had not responded to Ms X’s request to appeal the FPN because of staff absence. The Council confirmed it had cancelled the FPN and apologised to Ms X for the shortfall in service she had experienced.

My findings

15. The Council did not respond to Ms X’s request about how to dispute the FPN until she referred the complaint to the Ombudsman. This is fault. However, the Council has apologised and cancelled the FPN. These are satisfactory actions to remedy the injustice Ms X experienced. Further investigation into this matter is unlikely to achieve anything further.

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Final decision

16. The Council was at fault when it failed to respond to Ms X’s appeal, causing her injustice. It has satisfactorily remedied injustice caused. I have therefore completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman