Birmingham City Council (21 013 190)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 11 Mar 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notices issued by the Council. The complainant had a right of appeal to a tribunal against the penalty charge notice but the Council has cancelled it.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to here as Ms B, complained the Council issued a penalty charge notice for driving in the Birmingham Clean Air Zone (CAZ) without paying the required fee.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Ms B and the Council. I also considered our Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council issued a penalty charge notice because it believed she had driven in the CAZ without paying the required fee. She had a right of appeal against the penalty charge notice to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT). We would usually expect someone to appeal to the TPT and the restriction I describe in paragraph 3 would apply.
- Ms B explained to the Council why she did not feel she should have pay the penalty charge. The Council considered this and decided to exercise discretion to cancel the penalty charge.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint. This is because she had a right of appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal against the penalty charge notice. Further, the Council cancelled the penalty charge notice without her needing to appeal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman