London Borough of Southwark (18 016 343)

Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 09 May 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s handling of a penalty charge notice. The Council was at fault as it sent its response to Mr X’s informal representations to the wrong email address, and failed to respond properly to the issues Mr X raised. To remedy this, the Council has agreed to pay Mr X £120 to acknowledge his lost opportunity to pay the penalty charge notice at the discounted rate or to make an informed decision as to whether to continue with an appeal.

The complaint

  1. Mr X complained about the Council’s handling of a penalty charge notice. He complained the Council failed to consider his informal and formal representations before it issued a charge certificate. Mr X says that pressurised him into paying the fine, but he did not accept liability for the debt.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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)
  2. 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

  1. I have considered the information supplied by Mr X.
  2. I have considered the information the Council sent in response to our initial enquiries.
  3. I gave Mr X and the Council the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

  1. If a parking contravention occurs, a civil enforcement officer may fix a penalty charge notice (PCN) to a vehicle.
  2. If the Council issues a PCN it invites the driver to either pay at a 50% discounted rate within 14 days or pay the full rate within 28 days.
  3. If the PCN is not paid within 28 days, the Council sends a Notice to Owner to the registered keeper. The owner can make formal representations about why the Council should cancel the PCN. The Council must consider representations received within 28 days of the Notice to Owner. If the Council does not accept these, it issues a Formal Notice of Rejection of Representations. The owner then has the right to appeal to a tribunal.
  4. If the registered keeper does not appeal, or the appeal is unsuccessful the Council will issue a Charge Certificate. If the debt is still unpaid the Council can register the debt with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC), which is part of Northampton County Court. Then the Council sends an Order for Recovery to the owner.

What happened

  1. In August 2018, the Council issued Mr X with a penalty charge notice for parking in a road without displaying a valid parking ticket. Mr X said the ticket machine was out of order. He said he attempted to pay by telephone but the app could not find his location. He said he sent pictures to evidence this to the Council that day but it did not respond.
  2. Mr X emailed the Council to contest the PCN. The Council replied by email 10 days later. However, the Council sent the response to the incorrect email address so Mr X did not receive it. The Council’s response said ‘although you tried to pay by phone or on-line it did not go through…..it is unfortunate this happened to you, but drivers can only park if the transaction is successful’. It did not comment on Mr X’s claim that the ticket machine was not working. It did state that if drivers are unsure of the restrictions or are unable to successfully pay they should park elsewhere to prevent a parking contravention. The letter offered Mr X a further 14 days to pay at the discounted rate of £40.
  3. The Council issued Mr X with a Notice to Owner in October 2018. Mr X sent his representations to the Council that same month. He explained the machine was not working and his wife had tried to use the mobile app which did not recognise the location. Mr X emailed photographs of screen shots from the phone and of the parking machine to the Council. However Mr X used the wrong postcode on the envelope to the Council. He put SE11 instead of SE1. Because of that the Council did not receive his representations until early December 2018.
  4. As the Council had not received Mr X’s representations it issued Mr X with a charge certificate in November 2018. That increased the amount Mr X owed to £120. Mr X paid the debt to prevent county court action. However, he remained unhappy the Council had not responded to his earlier challenge.
  5. The Council wrote to Mr X in December 2018 after it had received his representation. It said as he had paid the case was now closed. Mr X emailed the Council. He said he did not accept liability and only paid due to the court threat. He was unhappy the Council had not responded to his representations. He included a photo of the ticket machine which showed the machine was ‘out of order’. Mr X sent further emails to the Council in December 2018 and another in January 2019.
  6. The Council responded in January 2019. It said the case was closed by appeals. The Council said if Mr X wanted to complain he should send it by email. At the end of January 2019 the Council wrote to Mr X. The letter stated it was now too late to challenge the PCN. The letter said the Notice to Owner gave Mr X 28 days to challenge the PCN but the time had now passed.
  7. Mr X wrote again to the Council. It responded to Mr X in February 2019. It stated the case remained closed. It noted Mr X attempted to pay but the machine was not working. It stated drivers should find alternative parking if they are unable to pay. The letter stated there were other options such as pay by phone, which would have allowed Mr X to park at the location.

Findings

  1. The Council responded to Mr X’s informal representations but sent its letter to the wrong email address. That was fault. Because of that Mr X lost the chance to consider the Council’s response and make an informed decision as to whether to pay the fine at the discounted rate of £40 or continue appealing.
  2. The Council did not respond to Mr X’s formal representations. However that was not due to Council fault. The Council did not receive the representations on time and had already issued the charge certificate to Mr X.
  3. The Council’s responses did not address Mr X’s concerns that the machine was not working and that the app could not find the location. In the response to his informal representations, which Mr X did not receive, the Council failed to comment on the broken ticket machine. In its response in February 2019 the Council referred to the broken machine but suggested he could have paid by phone. Mr X had already stated he could not do that and had sent the Council screen shots as evidence. The Council’s failure to provide a complete and cohesive response to Mr X was fault. Without that he lost the opportunity to make an informed decision as to whether to continue with an appeal.

Agreed action

  1. The Council has agreed, within one month of the date of my final decision, to pay Mr X £120 to acknowledge his lost opportunity to pay at the discounted rate and to make an informed decision about whether to continue with his appeal.

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Final decision

  1. I have completed my investigation. There was fault by the Council causing injustice which the Council has agreed to remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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