Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about several penalty charge notices issued by the Council. If Mrs X disputed the notices it would have been reasonable for her to appeal.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains about two penalty charge notices (PCNs) issued by the Council for parking contraventions.

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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, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

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

3. 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)
4. London Tribunals (previously known as the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service) considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I reviewed Mrs X’s complaint, made enquiries of the Council and considered its response. I shared my draft decision with Mrs X and took account of her comments.

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What I found

6. Mrs X has a blue badge for her son. This allows her to park where parking restrictions are normally in force. Mrs X says the blue badge does not stay in place on the dashboard of her car and often falls off. As a result the Council has issued her several PCNs for parking without properly displaying the blue badge; the most recent PCN was issued in April 2019 and this PCN remains unpaid. The Council has cancelled other PCNs issued in similar circumstances following Mrs X’s challenges but it has refused to cancel this PCN.
7. Mrs X tried to apply for a resident’s parking permit in July 2019 but did not have the V5 registration document she needed from the DVLA as she had only recently bought the car. The Council agreed not to issue Mrs X any PCNs until 9 August 2019 to give her an opportunity to get the V5 but once this date had passed it issued a further PCN for parking without a valid permit. Mrs X has paid this PCN.
8. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. The Council has cancelled four PCNs where it found evidence to show the blue badge had fallen off the dashboard but remained visible inside the car and if Mrs X wished to challenge the remaining PCN further it would have been reasonable for her to appeal.
9. The Council told Mrs X its hold would expire on 9 August 2019 and it issued a PCN the day after this. Mrs X was aware she may receive a PCN if she parked on the road after this date and without a valid permit, but if she feels the Council should have cancelled the PCN she could have appealed.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mrs X to appeal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman