Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s escalation of a penalty charge notice. This is because it would be reasonable for her to make a statutory declaration to the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains about the Council’s escalation of a penalty charge notice (PCN). She says she did not receive the PCN and missed her opportunity to appeal.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
4. 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)
5. London Tribunals (previously known as the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service) considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I reviewed Miss X’s complaint, made enquiries of the Council and considered its response. I shared my draft decision with Miss X and invited her comments.

Back to top

What I found

7. The Council issued Miss X a PCN for a parking contravention in November 2019.
8. There is a set procedure councils must follow when pursuing PCNs for parking contraventions and handling appeals against them. When a council issues a PCN the motorist has 28 days to pay the penalty charge or appeal; appeals at this stage are known as ‘informal challenges’.
9. If the motorist submits an informal challenge to a PCN and the Council decides not to accept them, it will write to the motorist and explain why. If the motorist accepts the Council’s reasons they may pay the PCN; if not, they may wait for a ‘notice to owner’. This provides a further opportunity for the owner of the vehicle to pay the charge or make ‘formal representations’ against the PCN. If the council rejects the motorist’s formal representations the motorist may appeal to London Tribunals.
10. If the motorist does not pay or make formal representations the council will issue a charge certificate, increasing the amount payable by 50%. It may then apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) at Northampton County Court to register the debt, before instructing enforcement agents (bailiffs) to recover it.
11. The Council says Miss X drove off before it could affix the PCN to her windscreen and it therefore sent the PCN to her by post. Miss X says she did not receive it and only became aware when she received the charge certificate in January 2020 that the Council had issued her a PCN.
12. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. The Council confirms the next step in the process is to register the unpaid PCN as a debt with the TEC and at that point it will send her a statutory declaration form. If Miss X wishes to challenge the Council’s escalation of the PCN she may complete the form and send it to the TEC. The TEC will then consider whether to take the process back to an earlier stage. If it does, this will provide Miss X another chance to pay the PCN at the discounted rate or appeal against it. The restriction at Paragraph 4 will then apply. If the TEC refuses Miss X’s application she may apply for a review of its decision.

Back to top

Final decision

13. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it would be reasonable for Miss X to make a statutory declaration to the TEC.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman