Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a Fixed Penalty Notice for littering. This is because the law prevents us from investigating matters that have been decided by the Court. We will not investigate part of this complaint as it is late and there are no good reasons to investigate now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN). He says the person the Council issued the FPN to falsely gave his address. The Council then pursued Mr X for payment of the fine. Mr X says this has caused him distress and he is concerned it may affect his credit rating.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X complained to the Council about an FPN issued in May 2025 for littering. He said he was not the person who was given the FPN nor did the person named on the documentation live at his address.
8. The evidence shows in February 2026, the Court confirmed Mr X was no longer being pursued for payment of the FPN and confirmed its records have been updated to show the debtor does not live at Mr X’s address. The law prevents us from investigating this complaint about the start of court action and we therefore cannot investigate this matter.
9. Mr X complains about historic anti-social behaviour and says the Council did not deal with his reports adequately. These matters occurred more than 12 months prior to Mr X’s complaint to the Ombudsman. We will not investigate these matters now as it would have been reasonable for Mr X to complain to us sooner.

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Final decision

10. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it has been decided by the court. We will not investigate part of the complaint as it is late and there are no good reasons to investigate now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman