Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council issuing a fixed penalty for littering. It is reasonable for Ms X to challenge the penalty in the courts if she does not accept the penalty is due and is prosecuted by the Council.

The complaint

1. Ms X says she received a fixed penalty notice from the Council for depositing waste which was traced to her. She says the packaging was on an item she sold to a third party and they must be guilty of the offence, not her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 another body better placed to consider this complaint.

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X received a fixed penalty in 2023 from the Council after it identified litter which could be traced to her. She says she believes this was associated with packaging on an item which she had sold earlier.
6. Ms X complained about the penalty and the Council applied its complaints procedure to her challenge because there is no formal or statutory right of appeal against a fixed penalty notice. The Council told her that it believes the notice was reasonably served and that the evidence indicates her responsibility for the litter.
7. Fixed penalty notices are issued under civil law, but littering is considered a criminal offence in the UK under UK littering regulations. This means that the there are no formal grounds of appeal against a fixed penalty notice. This is because a fixed penalty notice is an invitation for someone to effectively pay to avoid liability to prosecution.
8. If someone does not agree that they committed the offence for which they received the fixed penalty notice then the matter will be dealt with through formal prosecution via the courts. It will then be up to the court, on receiving evidence, to determine whether or not an offence was committed and therefore whether or not any penalty should be imposed.
9. We cannot decide whether a fixed penalty is correct based on the evidence. Only the courts can decide this. The Council considered Ms X’s complaint about the penalty through its complaints procedure because there is no appeals process. It concluded that the penalty was correctly served and advised her about the alternatives of either paying the penalty or challenging it in the courts. We cannot advise her which course of action to take in this matter.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council issuing a fixed penalty for littering. It is reasonable for Ms X to challenge the penalty in the courts if she does not accept the penalty is due and is prosecuted by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman