Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a penalty charge notice. This is because it would have been reasonable for him to appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council is pursuing him for payment of a penalty charge notice (PCN) he is not liable for. He says this has caused him stress and loss of sleep.

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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. (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. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal but cannot investigate if the person has already appealed. (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 Mr X’s complaint, shared my draft decision with him and considered his comments.

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What I found

6. The Council issued Mr X a PCN in 2019. PCNs can be fixed to the vehicle, given to the driver, or sent to the registered keeper of the vehicle. This should be to the address where the vehicle is registered with the DVLA.

7. If the keeper does not pay the PCN the Council may send a Notice to Owner to the address where the vehicle is registered. The keeper can then either pay the charge or make formal representations against it. If the council rejects the keeper’s formal representations they may appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

8. If the keeper does not pay the PCN or challenge it, or if their representations/appeal are unsuccessful, the council may issue a charge certificate increasing the amount of the penalty charge by 50%. If the charge remains unpaid the council may then register the debt with the county court and serve an order for recovery, providing a basis for action by enforcement agents (bailiffs) to recover payment.
9. Mr X disputes liability for the PCN as he says he sold the car before the contravention occurred. He sent the Council a letter from the DVLA confirming retrospectively that he was no longer the registered keeper but says the Council has continued to pursue him for payment.
10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. If Mr X wished to challenge the PCN it would have been reasonable for him to appeal. The appeals process is designed specifically to deal with disputes over the validity of and liability for PCNs and it is better placed to consider these issues.
11. Mr X says he did not appeal as he passed the PCN to the new owner and understood they would deal with it. But it was his responsibility to ensure the DVLA’s records were up to date and to deal with the PCN issued in his name. He accepts now that he should have dealt with the matter differently but there is no evidence of fault in the way the Council dealt with the case and we could not therefore say it must cancel the PCN.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman