Summary: Mrs B complains that the Council failed to properly deal with her vehicle when it moved her car and that it didn’t respond to her request for information. The Council was at fault because Mrs B was unable to find her car and it took too long to confirm it had moved it. Mrs B had to make an insurance claim and didn’t know what had happened to her car. The Council has agreed to review its processes, pay Mrs B £100 for the distress of being unable to find her car and also pay her £100 for the time and trouble taken to make her complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs B, complains that the Council didn’t properly record that it moved her car. Mrs B is unhappy because she had to claim on her insurance and buy a new car, which is more expensive to insure.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)
4. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I have spoken to Mrs B about her complaint and considered the information she has provided to the Ombudsman. I have also considered the Council’s response to her complaint and its response to my enquiries.
6. I have written to Mrs B and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments.

Back to top

What I found

7. The Council takes enforcement action in a controlled parking zone (CPZ) around a football stadium. When matches are played additional parking controls are in place in surrounding roads, which are advertised by notices. Council officers enforce the restrictions in place and any vehicles parked illegally are moved to other local roads outside the restricted parking areas.
8. The Council records details of any vehicles it moves on a system called TRACE. TRACE is operated by London Councils, which delivers services for councils in London.
9. TRACE is an online service for the Police and anyone whose vehicle may have been towed away for illegal parking by any council in London and shows where a vehicle has been moved to. The Council sends details of any vehicle it moves to TRACE by fax or email.

What happened?

10. Mrs B parked her car in a road which was subject to parking restrictions due to a match at the football stadium.
11. The Council found Mrs B’s car parked illegally. It issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and moved her car outside the restricted area.
12. The Council sent information about how it had moved Mrs B’s car to TRACE.
13. Mrs B returned to the location she had left her car to find it was not there. The police could not locate Mrs B’s vehicle on the TRACE database and it was recorded as stolen.
14. Mrs B made an insurance claim for her car being stolen.
15. About a month later the police told Mrs B that they had located her vehicle where it had been moved to. It had been issued with a second PCN at that location.
16. The Council sent Mrs B a Notice to Owner (NTO) about the PCNs it had issued.
17. Mrs B contacted the Council and asked it to cancel the first PCN because her car was not illegally parked and to cancel the second PCN because she believed her car had been stolen. The Police told Mrs B the Council might have moved her car.
18. Mrs B contacted the Council again and asked if it had moved her car and to confirm she did not have to pay the PCNs. The Council agreed to cancel the PCNs and asked Mrs B to provide information about who owned the car. Mrs B provided this. The Council did not reply to Mrs B again to say whether it had moved her car.
19. Mrs B wrote to her MP asking for help. The Council replied to Mrs B through her MP. It explained that there had been a problem sending information about her car being moved to TRACE due to an email address being changed. The Council said that London Councils had not made it aware of the new email address until three weeks after Mrs B’s car was moved.
20. The Council accepted that information about Mrs B’s car had not been uploaded to TRACE but said that its contractors completed their obligations and were not at fault. It accepted that Mrs B had been inconvenienced and apologised that it had taken a long time to tell her what had happened to her car.
21. Mrs B said she was not happy with the Council’s response. The Council did not reply to Mrs B.

Mrs B’s complaint

22. Mrs B made a formal complaint to the Council. The Council told Mrs B she should contact its insurance department. Mrs B asked the Council for contact details for the insurance department.
23. Mrs B submitted a claim to the Council. The Council rejected Mrs B’s claim because she had already settled a claim with her insurers for the car being stolen.

My findings

The removal of Mrs B’s car

24. I have seen documents which show the Council recorded moving Mrs B’s car.
25. The Council says it investigated why Mrs B was unable to locate her vehicle.
26. The investigation was undertaken when the Council found that emails to TRACE were bouncing back, two weeks after it moved Mrs B’s car.
27. The investigation found the cause was email being sent to an old email address that was not monitored. The investigation report says emails to TRACE were successfully delivered on the day Mrs B’s car was moved.
28. The information sent by the Council was not recorded on the TRACE system. As a result, Mrs B was unable to find out the Council had moved her car. Mrs B only became aware that her car had been moved after she had settled the insurance claim about her car.
29. The Council accept that TRACE did not show any information about Mrs B’s car having been moved, before she had settled her insurance claim. If this information had been available to Mrs B, she would have been able to find her car. This is fault by the Council.

The Council’s response to Mrs B

30. The Council was in possession of written documents that clearly showed that it had moved Mrs B’s car. I consider that these documents would have enabled the Council to respond to Mrs B’s questions about what happened to her car.
31. The Council did not respond to Mrs B’s requests for information for five months.
32. Mrs B had to write to her MP to ask the Council to tell her what had happened to her car. The Council took 18 days to respond to Mrs B through her MP.
33. After Mrs B replied to the Council and said she was not happy with its response, the Council did not reply to her until she made a formal complaint. This is fault by the Council.

Did Mrs B suffer any injustice?

34. Mrs B received a settlement from her insurance company for the value of her old car. Mrs B chose to buy a new car which cost significantly more than her old car. The Council’s fault did not cause Mrs B to have to buy a more expensive car.
35. Mrs B says her insurance premiums have increased since she bought a new car. It is not the Council’s fault that Mrs B has insured a newer and more expensive vehicle.
36. It is not possible to identify what proportion of any increase in insurance premiums are due to Mrs B having made a claim against her insurance and what is due to the value and age of the vehicle being insured.
37. Mrs B did have to wait a long time for the Council to respond to her requests for information. The Council had this information available and could have told Mrs B what had happened sooner than it did.
38. Mrs B had to write to her MP to find out that the Council had moved her car. She was left uncertain about what had happened for several months longer than was necessary. Mrs B was unable to bring her complaint to the Council until she knew what had happened.

What has the Council done?

39. The Council has accepted that Mrs B was inconvenienced by the delay in telling her what happened to her car and apologised to her.

Agreed action

40. To remedy the injustice caused by the fault I have identified the Council has agreed to take the following action within 4 weeks of this decision:
• Review how it sends information about the removal of vehicles to ensure that the correct processes are followed.
• Pay Mrs B £100 for the distress caused to her because she lost the opportunity to find and recover her car.
• Pay Mrs B £100 for the time and trouble taken to make her complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

41. I have found fault by the Council in the way that it dealt with the removal of Mrs B’s car and also how it dealt with her request for information about her car being moved. I have now completed my investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman