Summary: We will not investigate how the Council reconsidered the complainant’s representations against several penalty charge notices. He is unlikely to find there was fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr B, complained to us previously about several penalty charge notices issued by the Council for parking contraventions. In response, the Council undertook to reconsider exercising discretion to cancel the penalty charge notices. The complainant disagrees with the Council’s decision not to exercise that discretion.

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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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. 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 that is likely to have affected the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered what Mr B said in his complaint and information on his previous complaint to us. Mr B commented on a draft before I made this decision.

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What I found

Background

5. The Council enforces parking restrictions and takes recovery action using procedures set out in the Traffic Management Act 2004 and associated Regulations. Councils and motorists must follow these procedures although councils have discretion to stop enforcement or recovery action if they believe there are good reasons to do so.

Analysis

6. We previously explained to Mr B we would not look at whether the Council should have issued the penalty charge notices. This was, in essence, because a court had considered the matter and given the Council permission to collect the unpaid penalty charges as a debt. We will not look at this again.
7. However, the Council undertook to reconsider representations Mr B had made even though it received them outside the statutory process. This was not as a result of any finding by us on Mr B’s complaint.
8. It is clear the Council did reconsider Mr B’s representations but decided there were no grounds to cancel any of the penalty charge notices. This is a decision the Council was entitled to make. In the absence of any fault, we cannot substitute our judgement for that of the Council.

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Final decision

9. I have decided we will not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find fault by the Council ion how it reconsidered Mr B’s representations.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman