Plymouth City Council (20 011 050)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Upheld
Decision date : 04 Mar 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a penalty charge notice. This is because we are satisfied with the actions taken by the Council to remedy the issue.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council pursued him for a penalty charge notice (PCN) he was not liable for.
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 Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I shared my draft decision with Mr X and invited his comments.
What I found
- The Council issued Mr X a PCN in July 2020. Mr X says he sold the vehicle prior to the date of the contravention and informed the DVLA about the sale.
- Mr X does not appear to have used the statutory appeals process to challenge the PCN and he did not pay, so the Council escalated it through the usual process and registered the unpaid PCN as a debt with the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court. It then instructed enforcement agents (bailiffs) to recover payment from Mr X.
- Mr X contacted the Council and it took the case back from the bailiffs. It now accepts Mr X was not the registered keeper on the date of the contravention and that he is not therefore liable for the PCN. It has therefore withdrawn the PCN and marked the case as invalid.
- The Council’s actions provide a satisfactory remedy for the complaint and it is unlikely we would recommend anything further.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has withdrawn the PCN and this provides a satisfactory remedy for Mr X.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman