Summary: Ms X complains about the Council asking her to pay an increased amount for a parking penalty when she says she has not heard the outcome of her appeal. We will not investigate as Ms X can ask the court to decide how her case should proceed and it is reasonable to expect her to do so.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council asking her to pay an increased amount for a parking penalty when she says she has not heard the outcome of her appeal. Ms X says she cannot afford to pay the fine.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered what Ms X said in her complaint and I have sent her my draft decision on it for her comments.

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What I found

4. Ms X appealed to London Tribunals against a parking penalty the Council had issued to her. Ms X complains the Council did not notify her of the appeal outcome and is now asking her to pay an increased amount.
5. The Council has sent me documents about the case including London Tribunals’ letter to Ms X of 22/02/2020 notifying her that her appeal had been unsuccessful. In its appeal papers, the Council had advised it would accept payment of £65, the original penalty amount, as final settlement, if paid within four weeks of a refusal decision. No payment was made and the penalty doubled to £130. The Council wrote to Ms X on 30/06/2020 to explain that if she did not make an immediate payment of £130, a Charge Certificate would be issued, adding a further £65 to the penalty. No payment was made.
6. The next stage is for a Notice of Debt Recovery to be issued. The Council has advised Ms X that she can make a Witness Statement when she receives this. This will be considered by the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC), which is part of Northampton County Court. It will decide how the case should proceed.

Analysis

7. It was for London Tribunals to contact Ms X directly with the outcome of her appeal, not the Council. The Council has advised Ms X about how she can challenge this case further, by making a Witness Statement, once it has issued a Notice of Debt Recovery.
8. This is the right provided in law, allowing motorists to challenge recovery of a parking penalty when they think something has gone wrong in the procedure. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to take this course of action and so we will not investigate.

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Final decision

9. My decision is we will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is reasonable to expect Ms X to ask the courts to decide what should happen next.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman