London Borough of Ealing (19 001 709)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Upheld
Decision date : 14 Jun 2019
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a penalty charge notice. The Council has agreed to cancel the notice and this provides a suitable remedy for Mr X’s complaint.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mr X, complains he did not receive the Council’s penalty charge notice (PCN) and did not therefore have the opportunity to pay the fine at the discounted rate.
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 provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I reviewed Mr X’s complaint, made enquiries of the Council and considered its response. I shared my draft decision with Mr X and took account of his comments.
What I found
- The Council issued Mr X a PCN for stopping in a box junction in July 2019. It says it sent the PCN to the address provided by the DVLA but due to a system error it cannot evidence this. It has therefore agreed to cancel the PCN.
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint further. We cannot say the Council properly served the PCN in this case but its agreement to cancel the PCN provides a suitable remedy for this and it is unlikely we would recommend anything further. There is no requirement for any issuing authority to send PCNs by registered post and we cannot therefore insist the Council changes its policy to do this.
Agreed remedy
- The Council has agreed to cancel the PCN.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s agreement to cancel the PCN provides a suitable remedy for Mr X’s complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman