Transport for London (19 010 854)
Category : Transport and highways > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 06 Nov 2019
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that Transport for London wrongly charged her for driving in the ultra-low emission zone. This is because her injustice is not significant enough to warrant our further involvement in the matter.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mrs X, complains Transport for London (TfL) has wrongly charged her for driving in the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ).
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
- it is unlikely we would find fault, or
- the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I reviewed Mrs X’s complaint and TfL’s response. I shared my draft decision with Mrs X and invited her comments.
What I found
- TfL charged Mrs X £12.50 for driving in/leaving the ULEZ in August 2019. Mrs X disputes the charge as she has a residents’ discount/exemption which she swapped between her old and new car on the day. TfL says the charge runs from midnight to midnight but Mrs X believes she was still covered by the discount when she travelled in her car.
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. Mrs X’s claimed injustice lies in the ULEZ charge and this is only £12.50. This amount is not significant enough to warrant investigation, the cost for which typically runs to several hundred pounds.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the matter has not caused Mrs X significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman