Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his son’s parking permit application. This is because the injustice Mr X claims is too far removed from the fault he alleges by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council failed to issue his son (Mr Y) a replacement parking permit after he changed his car number plates. He says that as a result the County Council issued Mr Y six penalty charge notices (PCNs) totalling £450, which he paid.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

4. The Council acknowledges Mr Y applied for a new parking permit following his change of number plates but says Mr Y failed to provide the documentation necessary to issue a new permit.
5. But whether or not the Council’s actions amounted to fault, we could not say they caused the injustice Mr X claims. This is because the injustice lies in the PCNs issued by the County Council as a result of Mr Y not displaying a valid parking permit. This was not something over which the Council had any control.
6. By parking his car on the road without a valid permit Mr Y was at risk of receiving PCNs from the County Council and this is what happened. It would have been prudent for him to wait for his new permit before changing his number plates and had he done so, the County Council would have had no reason to issue the PCNs.
7. When the County Council issued the PCNs to Mr Y, Mr Y had a right of appeal against them which we would have expected him to use.
8. Mr Y could have appealed on the grounds the contravention did not occur; he had a valid permit for his vehicle regardless of the vehicle registration number displayed and had applied to change the number shown on the permit. Alternatively he could have asked the Traffic Penalty Tribunal to consider his mitigating circumstances. By choosing not to appeal further Mr Y lost the opportunity for the Tribunal to cancel the PCNs and this has contributed to the injustice Mr X now claims.

Back to top

Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we could not say the injustice Mr X claims is the result of any fault by the Council.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman