Manchester City Council (19 015 599)

Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 23 Nov 2020

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of an outstanding debt for a bus lane contravention and the actions of enforcement agents. The Ombudsman finds fault in the way the Council pursued Mr X for the debt. To remedy the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise and make Mr X a payment for the time and trouble.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, who I shall refer to here as Mr X, complains about the actions of the Council and enforcement agents acting on its behalf. He says:
      1. the Council’s enforcement agents continued to pursue him for an outstanding debt regarding a bus lane contravention even though he told them he did not own the car and was not in the area at the time; and
      2. the Council failed to deal with his contact or complaint about the matter.
  2. Mr X says that he has been harassed constantly by the debt collection company, which has caused him and his family distress. He says he has experienced frustration as well as time and trouble because of the Council’s handling of his complaint.

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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 considered the information and documents provided by Mr X and the Council. I spoke to Mr X about his complaint.
  2. I sent a draft version of this statement to the Council and Mr X. I considered the comments I received in response.
  3. I have considered the relevant legislation and statutory guidance, set out below.

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What I found

The Council’s enforcement process of penalty charge notices (PCNs)

  1. The process for issuing and challenging bus lane PCN’s is set out in the Bus Lane Contraventions (Penalty Charges Adjudication and Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2005 (“the Regulations”). Councils and motorists must follow these procedures although councils have discretion to stop enforcement or recovery action if they believe there are good reasons to do so.
  2. Following a bus lane contravention, the Council issues a PCN. That tells the recipient what the contravention is and that they have 28 days to either challenge or pay the PCN. If they choose to pay the charge within 14 days, they get a 50% reduction.
  3. The Regulations state that if a person makes representations within 28 days, the Council has a duty “to consider them and any supporting evidence provided”. If the PCN is challenged, the Council has 28 days to consider the challenge. If the Council rejects the challenge, it issues a Notice of Rejection. The Council offers the recipient of the PCN a further 14 days to pay the charge at the reduced rate following the Notice of Rejection. Or, they can appeal the Council’s decision to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
  4. If the owner does not pay or appeal the Council can issue a charge certificate. If the owner does not pay within 14 days of this, the penalty increases by 50%.
  5. If the owner does not pay, the Council can register the debt with the Traffic Enforcement Centre. The Council must send the owner a copy of the order. It must also tell the owner he must pay or make a witness statement to the TEC explaining why he should not pay.
  6. If the owner does not pay or make a witness statement, the Council can ask the Traffic Enforcement Centre for a warrant of execution. On receiving this the Council can use enforcement agents to recover the debt. The enforcement agents will add their own charges. Currently enforcement agents can charge £75 for initial action and a further £235 for a visit.
  7. When sending a document by post the Council must send it to the “proper address”. The proper address is the one specified by the person who received the PCN, unless he does not specify any address. The Regulations state if the owner does not specify an address the Council can use the last known address.

What happened

  1. In September 2018, the Council sent Mr X a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for an alleged bus lane contravention that took place in August. The PCN said £60 is payable within 28 days, but if paid within 14 days this would be reduced to £30.
  2. In October 2018, because the Council had not received any payment, the Council sent Mr X a Charge Certificate. It explained that a further 50% surcharge had been added and Mr X now owed £90. It said he should pay this within 14 days. It further explained that, if payment was not received, the Council could apply to the county court to register the charge certificate to recover the increased charge. It said, if the debt is registered in the county court, enforcement agents could also be instructed to seize Mr X’s goods to recover the debt.
  3. In January 2019, the Council sent Mr X an Order for Recovery Notice. This said an order to recover the unpaid PCN had been made against Mr X at the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court.
  4. Mr X said he did not receive the PCN, Charge Certificate or Order for Recovery Notice as these were all sent to a previous address. He said the first time he became aware of the PCN was when he received a letter from enforcement agents in September 2019. Mr X said he tried to contact the Council and enforcement agents to ask for further information about the alleged bus lane contravention. He said the Council initially refused to discuss the PCN with him as he could not provide the registration number of the vehicle involved. Mr X said he wrote to the Council to complain about this as he had not received the notices detailing the vehicle’s registration number. He also wrote to the enforcement agency to request the evidence used against him.
  5. Mr X says the Council has repeatedly failed to respond to his contact despite telling the Council he was at work at the time of the alleged bus lane contravention and he was not the registered keeper of the vehicle in question. He said he owned the vehicle previously, but was no longer the owner at the time of the PCN.
  6. The Council asked Mr X to contact the police to report the matter as a crime. It also said Mr X should inform the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) about what happened. In January 2020, Mr X sent an email to the Council officer to show this had taken place. Mr X says he received no response from the Council and chased the Council again in March. Visits from enforcement agents continued until July 2020 when the enforcement agency wrote to tell him all enforcement had stopped due to COVID-19.
  7. The Council has sent additional information in response to questions raised by the Ombudsman. It has said its records showed it did not receive the evidence sent by Mr X in January and March 2020. In the absence of the supporting evidence requested from Mr X, the Council explained the enforcement agency continued to take action to collect the debt. However, because the Council has now seen the emails Mr X sent, it has decided to recall Mr X’s case from the enforcement agency and cancel the PCN.

Analysis

  1. Mr X complains the Council’s enforcement agents continued to pursue him for an outstanding debt regarding a bus lane contravention even though he told them he did not own the car and was not in the area at the time. He also complains the Council failed to deal with his contact or complaint about the matter.
  2. The Council has now accepted the evidence from Mr X showing he had reported the matter to the police and DVLA. It has now cancelled the PCN against Mr X and recalled Mr X’s case from the enforcement agency.
  3. On balance, the evidence shows Mr X took reasonable steps to rectify the situation by trying to send the Council the evidence it had asked him to provide. I, therefore, find the Council at fault for continuing to pursue Mr X for the outstanding debt in these circumstances. This caused Mr X avoidable time and trouble.

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Agreed action

  1. The Council has now cancelled the PCN against Mr X and recalled Mr X’s case from the enforcement agency. I am satisfied this action remedies most of the injustice to Mr X. However, to remedy the remaining injustice, the Council has agreed to do the following, within four weeks of my final decision:
  • apologise to Mr X in writing for continuing to pursue Mr X for the outstanding debt; and
  • make a payment of £150 to Mr X to recognise the avoidable time and trouble he was put to trying to resolve the outstanding debt issue. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s published guidance on remedies.
  1. The Ombudsman will need to see evidence that these actions have been completed.

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Final decision

  1. I have completed my investigation. I find the Council at fault for its handling of the outstanding debt for a bus lane contravention. I find that this fault caused injustice to Mr X. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by apologising to Mr X and making a payment to him for the avoidable time and trouble he was put to.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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