Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and because the complainant could have followed the statutory process.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains the Council has ignored all her attempts to challenge a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). Mrs X says the Council should cancel the PCN because it has been incompetent.

Back to top

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 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. 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.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I considered all the letters the Council sent to Mrs X about the PCN. I invited Mrs X to comment on a draft of this decision.

Back to top

What I found

Penalty Charge Notices

6. If someone does not pay a PCN the Council sends a Notice to Owner. If the person thinks the Council should not have issued the fine they can use the Notice to Owner to make a challenge. If the Council accepts the challenge it cancels the PCN. If not, then it issues a Notice of Rejection. The owner can use the Notice of Rejection to appeal to the tribunal.
7. If the person neither pays nor appeals the Council issues a Charge Certificate and then registers the debt in court. It can then instruct bailiffs. If the person does not think the Council followed the correct process they can ask the court for a statutory declaration.

What happened

8. The Council issued Mrs X with a PCN for driving in a pedestrian area. Mrs X neither paid nor appealed so the Council issued a Charge Certificate which increased the fine and warned of court action.
9. Mrs X complained. In response the Council explained why it had issued the PCN and that she needed to follow the statutory process. The Council then registered the PCN in court and sent Mrs X a form so she could apply for a statutory declaration or pay. Mrs X did not pay so the Council passed the debt to bailiffs. Mrs X agreed a payment plan with the bailiffs which she did not maintain.
10. Mrs X says the Council has ignored all her challenges and did not issue a Notice of Rejection so she could appeal to the tribunal. She says she has been harassed by bailiffs. Mrs X wants the Council to cancel the PCN.

Assessment

11. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council sent all the letters about the PCN that it was required to send and it used the correct address. Mrs X received the letters because she made a complaint. The Council responded to that complaint, and wrote other letters, all of which told Mrs X that she needed to follow the statutory process if she wanted to challenge the PCN. The Council followed the correct process for those cases where it does not receive payment for a PCN or receive a formal challenge using the Notice to Owner. The Council correctly involved bailiffs because Mrs X had neither paid nor appealed.
12. I also will not start an investigation because Mrs X could have followed the statutory process and appealed to the tribunal. It is reasonable to expect Mrs X to appeal because the tribunal is the appropriate body to consider disputes about PCNs. Mrs X could have made a formal challenge using the Notice to Owner. Or, Mrs X could have applied for a statutory declaration if she believes she did make a challenge but the Council did not reply. If the court granted a statutory declaration it would have directed the Council to send the case to the tribunal.

Back to top

Final decision

13. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and because Mrs X could have followed the statutory process and then appealed to the tribunal.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman