London Borough of Brent (20 008 718)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Upheld
Decision date : 22 Jan 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a penalty charge notice issued in 2018. This is because we are satisfied with the remedy provided by the Council.
The complaint
- The complainant, Ms X, complains about the Council’s handling of a penalty charge notice (PCN) issued in 2018. She says she received no response from the Council to her PCN challenge and the Council has now passed the matter to its enforcement agents (bailiffs) who demanded £513.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I reviewed Ms X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I shared my draft decision with Ms X and invited her comments.
What I found
- The Council issued Ms X a PCN for a parking contravention in mid-2018. Ms X disputed the PCN and wrote to the Council to challenge it. She says she did not receive a response from the Council and heard nothing more about the PCN.
- The Council says it wrote to Ms X rejecting her challenge and to escalate the PCN. When Ms X did not pay, it registered the unpaid PCN as a debt with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) at Northampton County Court. It then instructed bailiffs to recover payment from Ms X. The bailiffs visited Ms X at home and demanded a total of £513 including fees, which Ms X paid. She wants the Council to cancel the PCN and refund her payment.
- Ms X brought her complaint to the Ombudsman on 30 November 2020, having raised the matter with the Council three days earlier. Later that day the Council responded to the complaint and agreed to cancel the PCN and refund Ms X in full.
- The Council’s agreement provides Ms X with a suitable remedy for the complaint and it is unlikely we could achieve anything more.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has agreed to cancel the PCN and refund Ms X’s payment and this provides a suitable remedy.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman