Liverpool City Council (19 013 627)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Not upheld
Decision date : 03 Apr 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman has discontinued its investigation into Miss X’s complaint. Miss X complained about how enforcement agents dealt with debts for two parking fines. Miss X was liable for the debts and has now arranged a payment plan. Further investigation would be unlikely to find fault causing a significant personal injustice to Miss X.
The complaint
- Miss X complained the Council threatened her with enforcement action including the removal of her car if she did not pay her parking fines. She also complained she did not receive one of the notices of enforcement. Miss X said the Council’s actions caused her distress.
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, or
- it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- 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)
- The Traffic Penalty Tribunal considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for all areas of England outside London.
- We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered Miss X’s complaint and the Council’s response.
- I have written to Miss X and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments.
What I found
- Miss X received two Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) in October 2018 and May 2019. She did not pay or submit a formal appeal in relation to these. The Council escalated the cases to an enforcement agency. Miss X said the enforcement agency made a mistake which caused her unnecessary distress.
- I have seen the information submitted by Miss X. Miss X had a number of opportunities to present this information and challenge the PCN through the formal appeal process but she chose not to.
- Miss X accepted that she was liable for the PCNs. She has now set up a payment plan with the enforcement agency.
- The Council accepted the enforcement agency gave Miss X wrong information and has apologised for this. This mistake did not amount to fault causing a significant personal injustice to Miss X.
Final decision
- I have discontinued my investigation. I consider that further investigation would be unlikely to find fault causing a significant injustice to Miss X.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman