Summary: Mr X complained enforcement agents acting on behalf of the Council, illegally seized his vehicle and then damaged it while it was in their storage depot. The Council was not at fault.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council:
• issued him with two penalty charge notices; and
• illegally seized his vehicle, using an enforcement agency.
2. As a result, he says he and his family do not feel safe and live in fear of the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)
5. In this case, the Enforcement Agency was acting on behalf of the Council. Therefore, I can look at its actions in this complaint as if they were carried out by the Council.
6. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I made enquiries of the Council and considered the information it provided. This included the case files for the two penalty charge notices in dispute.
8. I asked for further clarification on the checks made by the Enforcement Agency.
9. I wrote to Mr X and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments before I made my final decision.

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What I found

Vehicle registration

10. When you sell or transfer a vehicle to somebody else you must notify the DVLA straight away using the V5C part of the registration document (logbook). By law, it is the seller’s responsibility to tell the DVLA about the change in keeper. The seller will give the buyer a green ‘new keeper’ slip from the logbook before sending it to the DVLA. The DVLA will send a new logbook to the new keeper as soon as possible but usually within four weeks of receiving the old one from the seller.

What happened

11. In December 2019, Mr X bought a vehicle privately from the Seller.
12. At that time, the Seller had two unpaid penalty charge notices (PCNs) against the vehicle. When the Seller sold the vehicle, the Council was already in the process of recovering the debts from the Seller. This included carrying out a DVLA check in May 2019. The check confirmed the legal owner of the vehicle in May 2019 was the Seller.
13. The Seller did not pay the fines and so the Council referred the matter to an Enforcement Agency (EA) to recover the debt on its behalf.
14. Unrelated to the outstanding PCNs, on 6 and 7 January 2020, the Council issued Mr X with two PCNs for alleged parking contraventions which took place on those two dates.
15. The EA’s attempts to recover the debt from the older PCNs were unsuccessful. On 10 January 2020, the EA found the vehicle using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology. The agent clamped the vehicle and carried out a vehicle history check which showed there had been no change of keeper since October 2018. The agent removed the vehicle and took it to the EA’s storage depot.
16. Mr X discovered his vehicle was missing and reported it stolen to the Police. The Police told him the EA acting on behalf of the Council had removed it
17. Mr X contacted the EA the same day and said he was the registered keeper of the vehicle and had purchased it in December 2019. The EA told Mr X what information he should provide to prove this.
18. On 22 January Mr X emailed the Council with proof he had insured and taxed the vehicle from 19 December 2019. He also sent a copy of the vehicle logbook which was in his name. He used the Council’s generic parking department email address. The system automatically placed the email in a workflow queue.
19. Mr X telephoned the Council on 31 January. A Council officer informed Mr X the evidence he had provided was sufficient to prove he became the legal owner of the vehicle after the PCNs had been issued. Therefore, he had no liability in the matter.
20. The Council officer immediately contacted the EA. Because it was late on a Friday afternoon by then, Mr X was asked to collect his vehicle after the weekend on Monday 3 February 2020.
21. Mr X collected his vehicle on the Monday and signed a release document to say the vehicle was in a satisfactory condition.
22. Mr X complained to the Council because he was unhappy the EA had taken his vehicle. He said the EA had damaged his vehicle. Mr X also complained about the amount of time the Council took to release his vehicle once he provided the required documents on 22 January.
23. The Council responded and said its checks had shown the vehicle still belonged to the Seller when it was seized. It had arranged for the release of the vehicle as soon as it was made aware of the situation. It said Mr X had signed a vehicle release document stating the vehicle was returned in a satisfactory condition.
24. Mr X remained unhappy and came to the Ombudsman.

My findings

PCNs issued against the Seller

25. The law says an enforcement agency may only take control of goods of the debtor, not those belonging to third parties.
26. In order to ensure a vehicle belongs to the debtor, we would expect the EA to make necessary and timely checks. In this case the EA carried out a check on the day it seized the vehicle. This showed there had been no change in the vehicle’s legal owner since October 2018. The EA was entitled to rely on this information. There was no fault.
27. The fact Mr X bought the vehicle on 19 December 2019 is not disputed so it is likely DVLA had not yet registered Mr X as the new keeper which usually takes four weeks. Given the time of year it may have taken longer. But whatever the reason, it was not through any action or inaction by the Council. The Council was not at fault.
28. When Mr X contacted the Council with his documents showing he was the legal owner, he used the parking department generic email address. This meant his email was automatically put into a work queue. When he telephoned the Council around 10 days later, his email had not been actioned. This is not fault. If Mr X had telephoned the Council earlier or, better still, the EA then the matter could have been dealt with more quickly. There was no fault in the Council’s actions.
29. Mr X says his vehicle was damaged when it was in the keep of the EA. However, he signed a form to say it was in satisfactory condition when he collected it. If there was any damage to the vehicle, Mr X should have raised this at the time of collection. He did not do so, therefore, I will not investigate this matter further. If he wishes, Mr X can raise the issue with his insurers.

PCNs issued against Mr X

30. The Council issued two PCNs on 7 and 7 January 2020. Mr X challenged these and the Council cancelled them. Further investigation would achieve nothing more. Therefore, I will not investigate this matter further.

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Final decision

31. The Council was not at fault. Therefore, I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman