Mole Valley District Council (19 019 209)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Feb 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a parking fine as it is reasonable to expect him to have appealed against it. The complaint is therefore outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about a parking fine he received after he was unable to buy a ticket from the Council’s ticket machine.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered what Mr X said in his complaint and background information the Council sent to me. I have written to Mr X with my draft decision and considered his comments.
What I found
- Mr X complains about receiving a parking fine from the Council. Mr X says he was unable to buy a ticket from the Council’s ticket machine as he had no coins, but he did buy a ticket from an adjacent machine. Mr X paid the fine to avoid further action as he was going on holiday. Mr X has since continued to challenge the fine as he considers the signage in the car park is misleading. Mr X wants this to be addressed.
- The Council explains the car park is shared with a supermarket and Mr X bought his ticket from a ticket machine for the supermarket’s car park.
- The Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT) is the independent tribunal which hears appeals against parking fines issued under the Traffic Management Act 2004. This Act sets out a statutory appeal process for motorists.
Assessment
- Mr X had the right to appeal against the fine to the TPT. It would have considered Mr X’s case that the signage at the car park is misleading. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have done this and so the complaint is outside our legal remit and we will not investigate. That Mr X chose to pay the fine and so halt the appeal process does not affect this view.
Final decision
- My decision is that the Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X had the right to appeal against the fine and it is reasonable to have expected him to do so. The complaint is therefore outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman