Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to cancel two Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) it issued. The complainant has already taken court action to deal with council enforcement of the PCNs, and it would be reasonable for him to appeal to a tribunal against the PCNs themselves.

The complaint

1. Mr G says he took court action against the Council over two Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) issued after his car registration was cloned. He says he won the court case but the Council is refusing to honour the court’s judgement and has threatened to send bailiffs to his home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The courts have said that where someone has used their right of appeal, reference or review or remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
4. 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)
5. London Tribunals (previously known as the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service) considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mr G.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr G says he took court action and won. The proper process to challenge enforcement and recovery action for an unpaid PCN would be to apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) which is part of the county court. The TEC has the power to cancel enforcement action, but not quash the PCN itself. It is possible this happened in Mr G’s case.
9. Mr G says the Council is still expecting him to pay each PCN at the discounted rate which applied for the first fourteen days. This means the Council has set back the PCN process to its first step, when the PCN was issued. If Mr G wishes to appeal against the PCNs he could still do so within the time allowed by law. It would be reasonable for him to have used his appeal right.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr G’s complaint because he has taken court action to challenge the Council’s recovery action and it would be reasonable for him to appeal to a tribunal about the original PCNs.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman