Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a statement made by the Council concerning a penalty charge notice which has now been cancelled. This is because the matter does not cause him significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council still believes he committed a moving traffic contravention, despite deciding not to contest his appeal to London Tribunals against the penalty charge notice (PCN).

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I reviewed Mr X’s complaint, shared my draft decision with him and considered his comments.

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What I found

4. The Council issued Mr X a PCN for a moving traffic contravention in 2019. Mr X disputed the PCN and challenged it with the Council. The Council rejected Mr X’s representations and Mr X appealed to London Tribunals. The Council maintains the contravention occurred but told Mr X it would not oppose his appeal; the Adjudicator therefore cancelled the PCN.
5. Mr X is concerned that because the Council still considers the contravention occurred, it may decide to reinstate the PCN and pursue him for it at a later date.
6. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. Because the Council did not oppose Mr X’s appeal the Adjudicator has cancelled the PCN; the case is therefore closed. The Council cannot reinstate a PCN which has been cancelled by London Tribunals so regardless of whether it believes the contravention occurred, it cannot pursue it. The matter does not therefore cause Mr X significant injustice.
7. Mr X is also unhappy with the way the Council has dealt with his complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mr X significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman