Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice issued by the Council for a parking contravention. The law provides a right of appeal to a tribunal against the penalty charge notice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr B, complained because the Council issued a penalty charge notice for a parking contravention. Mr B believes there are good reasons the Council should not have done this.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these.
4. 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)

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How I consider this complaint

5. I have considered what Mr B said in his complaint and background information provided by the Council. Mr B commented on a draft before I made this decision.

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What I found

Background

6. 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.
7. In law, the owner of a vehicle is responsible for any penalty charges regardless of who was driving at the time of the contravention. This is most often the person registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) as the keeper of the vehicle. Enforcement authorities will initially send any formal documents using keeper details provided by the DVLA.
8. Mr B had a right of appeal against the penalty charge notice to London Tribunals which is a statutory tribunal. An appeal to London Tribunals is free and relatively easy to use. It is also the way in which Parliament expects people to challenge a penalty charge notice. For these reasons, the restriction I describe in paragraph 2 generally applies.

Analysis

9. In May 2020, the Council issued the penalty charge notice to Mr B because it believed he had parked where this was not allowed. Mr B made an informal challenge and the Council asked him to provide evidence to support his case. rejected.
10. In summary, Mr B continued to write to the Council but provided no evidence. The Council followed the statutory procedure and issued a notice to owner in August 2020. This explained within 28 days he could either pay the penalty charge or make formal representation against it. If the Council rejected formal representations, Mr B could appeal to an independent adjudicator at London Tribunals.
11. The Council says Mr B neither paid nor made representations and so it is following the statutory recovery procedure. It is now too late for Mr B to appeal to London Tribunals.
12. The Council can now register the unpaid penalty charge as a debt with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) at Northampton County Court. It can then use bailiffs to recover the debt, including court costs and bailiffs’ fees from Mr B.

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Final decision

13. I have decided we will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr B had a right of appeal against the penalty charge notice to London Tribunals and it was reasonable to expect him to have used that right. There is no evidence of other fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman