London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham (18 017 536)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 26 Mar 2019
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about a parking fine as it is reasonable to expect her to appeal against it to an independent tribunal. The complaint is therefore outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, complains about a parking fine the Council issued to her.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered what Miss X said in her complaint.
What I found
- Miss X complains about a parking fine the Council has issued to her. Miss X says she could find nowhere to buy a ticket to park and was also unable to buy one using the Council’s telephone payment system.
Analysis
- The Council issued the fine under the Traffic Management Act 2004 which provides an appeal procedure for motorists. It is reasonable to expect Miss X to make such an appeal and the complaint is therefore outside our legal remit.
Final decision
- We do not propose to investigate this complaint as Miss X can appeal against the parking fine to an independent tribunal. The complaint is therefore outside our legal remit.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman