Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s approach to parking enforcement on a local road. This is because the Council has cancelled the penalty charge notice issued to Mr X and it is unlikely further investigation would achieve anything more for him.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about a lack of consistency by the Council in enforcing parking restrictions on the road outside a former school entrance. The Council issued Mr X a penalty charge notice (PCN) and Mr X says the issue has caused him and others stress.

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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)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal about the same matter. 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)
4. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for all areas of England outside London.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. The validity of any PCNs issued by the Council, and the Council’s ability to issue PCNs at this location, is a matter for the appeals process rather than for us.
7. I appreciate Mr X is concerned that the Council will continue to issue PCNs at this location despite the view of one traffic warden that any such PCNs would be invalid. But in order to say this approach was fault we would need to decide which view is correct and this is not our role.
8. The Council has cancelled Mr X’s PCN and this provides a suitable remedy for the injustice he claims; it is the most he could achieve by appealing under the statutory appeals process and it is unlikely we would recommend anything more.
9. If Mr X or any other motorist is issued a PCN at this location they will have the right to appeal, firstly to the Council and then to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT). The TPT can determine the validity of any PCN issued by the Council and, if it finds a PCN invalid, it may cancel it.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has cancelled Mr X’s PCN it is unlikely investigation would achieve anything more for him. If the Council issues Mr X or any other motorist a PCN, and if they dispute it, it would be reasonable for them to appeal under the process set out above.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman