Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Penalty Charge Notices. This is because it is late with no good reason to investigate it now and it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council handled Mr Y’s complaint when we are not considering the substantive issue.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains the Council has allowed its staff to issue Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) to deliberately target vehicles based on their owners’ race along his road. He says enforcement officers have used derogatory language to him. He says the Council has also failed to deal with his complaint properly.
2. Mr Y says this means he has wrongly received PCNs and has been upset and frustrated at the Council’s actions.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr Y says he first became aware of the problem in 2018 when he received several PCNs. He says Council’s officers made comments about his neighbours which are racist and derogatory. He believes this is the reason his road is being targeted. He feels this is unfair and unlawful.
8. Mr Y says he has been contacting the Council about the problem repeatedly since 2018 and has spoken to different departments but feels he has been ignored. The Council says it has no record of receiving complaints from Mr Y until April 2021.
9. Mr Y contacted us in June 2021. We asked the Council to fully consider the complaint and respond directly to Mr Y.
10. The Council sent Mr Y its final response in January 2022. It explained, as Mr Y had not been able to say which of its officers had made derogatory comments, it could not act further. It said such behaviour would not be tolerated and would be unacceptable and that it would reiterate this to staff. Mr Y then returned to us in February.

Analysis

11. Any PCNs received which Mr Y considers the Council issued wrongly would be a matter for the appeals process, in the first instance to the Council and following which if Mr Y wanted to continue any appeal to the London Tribunals.
12. The law says people should normally complain to us within 12 months of becoming aware of an issue. Complaints brought to the Ombudsman more than 12 months after someone becomes aware of something a council has done are considered late. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons.
13. As Mr Y has been aware of his reason to complain since 2018, which is more than 12 months before he approached us, his complaint is late.
14. We have discretion to disapply the rule outlined in paragraph three where we decide there are good reasons. However, Mr Y was in contact with the Council about the issue, so he was not prevented from approaching our service within the 12 month period. Consequently, we would consider it reasonable for him to have complained to us sooner and would not consider there to be a good reason to consider this late complaint now.
15. Further, as we are not considering the substantive issue, it is not a good use of public resources to consider Mr Y’s complaint about how the Council dealt with his complaint initially. Consequently, we will not investigate this issue.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because it is late with no good reason to investigate it now and it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council handled Mr Y’s complaint when we are not considering the substantive issue.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman