City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (18 019 642)

Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 08 Aug 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mr X complained about the actions of the Council’s appointed enforcement agents, and the way his complaint has been handled, following an unpaid penalty charge notice. The Council has agreed to re-issue the penalty charge notice at the notice to owner stage so we are discontinuing our investigation.

The complaint

  1. Mr X complained about the actions of the Council’s appointed enforcement agents (the Agency), and the way it handled his complaint, following a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). He says the Agency was aggressive, did not consider his personal circumstances, and have not allowed him to complete their complaints process. When Mr X tried to take his complaint to the Council, it refused to act.
  2. This has caused Mr X stress and worry because he is unable to repay the money owed to the Agency.

Back to top

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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

  1. I spoke to Mr X about his complaint and considered the Council’s response to my enquiries. I also considered:
  • Taking Control of Goods: National Standards (Published 6 April 2014)
  • The Agency’s complaints procedure
  • The Council’s complaints procedure
  1. Mr X and the Council both had an opportunity to comment on a draft decision.

Back to top

What I found

  1. If you contravene bus lane regulations, you will get a PCN.
  2. Bus lane PCN’s will be sent through the post with a Notice to Owner (NTO), using details from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). The cost of the PCN is £60, payable within 28 days or reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days.
  3. If payment is not made within 28 days of the NTO, you may receive a Charge Certificate from the Council and the cost of the original PCN will increase by 50%, to £90.
  4. If payment is not made within 21 days of receiving the Charge Certificate the Council may register it with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) at Northampton County Court to recover the unpaid charge.
  5. At this stage the Council must send a notice of registration of debt to the debtor, with a witness statement or statutory declaration form. These forms give the debtor the chance to challenge the debt registration and must be completed and returned within 21 days.
  6. If the debt is not paid, or not challenged, within 21 days of the notice of registration then the Council may instruct enforcement agents to recover the debt.
  7. Where enforcement agents act on behalf of the Council it is ultimately the Council who is responsible and accountable for the enforcement agents’ actions.
  8. There are standard fees, set out in law, which an enforcement agent can charge. These are £75 for the compliance stage (the stage when the enforcement agency writes to the debtor) and £235 for the enforcement (or visits) stage.
  9. An agency has 12 months from the date of the notice of enforcement in which to recover the debt before it is passed back to the Council. The court can order a 12-month extension at the request of the enforcement agent or the Council, but only on one occasion.
  10. Council’s should have a complaints procedure in place to address complaints about its enforcement agents. Enforcement agencies must also have their own complaints procedure and should keep a record of all complaints. Complainants should be told about the result of disputes.
  11. The debtor should be able to easily find out how to make a complaint and obstacles should not be placed in their way.
  12. Council’s should ensure there are clear protocols agreed with enforcement agents when a debtor is identified as being in a vulnerable situation. Debtors should not be made to agree to pay back more than they can afford.
  13. The agency’s complaints procedure consists of four stages. At the time of Mr X’s debt being passed to the enforcement agency, stage one involved investigation by a complaints officer, stage two by the correspondence manager and stage three by a partner in the agency. Stage four involved referring the complainant to the Civil Enforcement Association (CIVEA). As of 1 June 2019, the agency’s complaints procedure was updated. Stage four now involves referral to the Council’s complaints process.
  14. A complaint can be made verbally, by telephone or in person, and if it cannot be resolved the agency will ask the complainant to put the complaint in writing, by post, e-mail or via its website.

Back to top

What happened

  1. In February 2018 Mr X’s vehicle was filmed driving in a bus lane and he was issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) by the Council. When Mr X did not respond, the Council issued him with an NTO and then a Charge Certificate.
  2. When there was still no response, the Council registered the matter with the TEC at court.
  3. On 12 April 2018 Mr X contacted the Council by telephone. He said that he had appealed when he received the NTO but had heard nothing back. The Council said it did not receive an appeal from Mr X and told him to complete a statutory declaration form to appeal to the TEC.
  4. On 6 June 2018 Mr X contacted the Council by telephone to say that the forms he sent to the TEC had been returned to him as he completed them too late. The Council informed Mr X he should have completed the forms sooner and it was passing the debt to the Agency.
  5. On 11 June 2018 Mr X submitted an appeal against the PCN by e-mail to the Council. He was informed by the Council that it was too late to appeal.
  6. On 20 July 2018 the matter was passed to the Agency. On 23 July 2018 the Agency issued a notice of enforcement to Mr X.
  7. On 10 August 2018 Mr X sent an e-mail to the Agency asking them to carry out a means test and proposing to pay £20 a month.
  8. On 31 August 2018 the Agency sent an e-mail to Mr X. It stated that it could not accept his offer of £20 per month as it had a limited amount of time to collect the outstanding debt. It said Mr X could pay £58 a month instead.
  9. Between September and November 2018 Mr X contacted the Agency four times by e-mail and twice by telephone to inform it that he could not afford to repay £58 a month. He told the Agency about his financial situation and his other creditors. He asked it to carry out a means test.
  10. Each time the Agency repeated that it would not accept less than £58 a month and if Mr X did not agree then it would send enforcement agents to visit, where an additional charge of £235 would be incurred.
  11. On 8 October 2018 Mr X complained to the Council by e-mail. He made it aware of his mortgage arrears, other debts, two dependants and the fact the Agency had not carried out a means test. He also informed the Council of his offer to pay back £20 per month.
  12. On 10 October the Council responded. It told Mr X that any agreement for a payment plan had to be made with the Agency and the Council was unable to intervene.
  13. On 9 November 2018 Mr X sent an e-mail to the Agency stating that he has been to Citizens Advice for a means test and he cannot afford what they are requesting. He could only offer £10 a month.
  14. On 15 November 2018 the Agency replied to Mr X, stating that, as he was unable to agree to their minimum payment terms, they would continue with their recovery of the debt.
  15. Mr X telephoned the Agency on 15 November 2018 to say it was putting him in financial difficulty and he asked for the details of its governing body.
  16. On 22 November 2018 the Agency sent an e-mail to Mr X providing him with the details of the Civil Enforcement Agency (CIVEA) but advising that he should submit a complaint to the Agency first. Mr X replied on 28 November 2018 to say that he has already submitted a written complaint to the Agency.
  17. Between November 2018 and April, Mr X sent the Agency six e-mails. I have not detailed all these e-mails individually, but they show that Mr X believed the Agency had dealt with his difficulties with the repayment plan as a complaint. The Agency did not accept it as a complaint and refused to issue a letter to Mr X to say he had been through the complaints process.
  18. On 21 March 2019 the Agency sent enforcement agents to visit Mr X, increasing the debt by £235.
  19. On 22 March Mr X submitted a complaint to the Ombudsman as he was unhappy that the Agency had not investigated his complaint and would not issue a letter to allow him to complain to CIVEA.
  20. On 27 March 2019 Mr X sent an e-mail to the Council, notifying them of his complaint to the Ombudsman and enclosing a copy of it.
  21. On 11 April 2019 Mr X made a further complaint by e-mail to the Council about the Agency.
  22. On 16 April 2019 the Council e-mailed Mr X. It told him that the correct way to complain about the Agency was through CIVEA, not the Council, and that he must first complete the Agency’s complaints procedure.
  23. On 25 April 2019 Mr X sent an e-mail to the Agency. He asked it to investigate his complaint.
  24. Because the Agency had the debt for a year without collecting it, the debt has now been passed back to the Council.
  25. In the course of our investigation, we issue a draft decision set out where we thought there was fault by the Council. The Council said it did not accept any fault in the actions of the Agency or in its response to Mr X’s complaint. To resolve the matter the Council offered to reissue the PCN at the NTO stage rather than passing the debt to another enforcement agency. The cost to Mr X is £30, if paid within 14 days.
  26. Mr X was not satisfied with the Council’s offer, as he did not feel it recognised the distress, he suffered over a nine-month period.
  27. The Council has offered an appropriate remedy because Mr X has been put back in the position he was in before any of the actions complained of.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. I have discontinued my investigation because the Council has offered an appropriate remedy.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings