London Borough of Harrow (22 010 623)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 04 Nov 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to issue the complainant with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). This is because the complainant has already paid the PCN which effectively resolves her complaint.
The complaint
- In summary, Miss X complains about the Council’s decision to issue her with a PCN. She says she was forced to park illegally due to the Council’s failure to deal with people who had illegally parked on her road and used up the available parking spaces.
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 Act 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)
- London Tribunals (previously known as the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service) considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council responded to Miss X’s representations and explained she was issued with a PCN as she had parked with one wheel or more on the pavement. It said it could not cancel the PCN as it had been issued correctly. And if she wished to formally challenge it she could do at the next stage (and ultimately to London Tribunals).
- Parliament has laid down a detailed process allowing individuals the right to challenge receiving PCNs from the Council. If Miss X wished to challenge the PCN she should not have paid and instead formally appealed to London Tribunals. There is no procedure for paying and then appealing as payment effectively ends the appeal procedure.
- The Ombudsman can check if the Council responded to Miss X’s representations, and I note in this case it did. So there are no grounds for the Ombudsman to investigate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because she has already paid the PCN.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman