Summary: Mr X complained the Council repeatedly sends him Penalty Charge notes for a vehicle which he does not own. We found fault with the Council’s poor communication and delays in handling Mr X’s concerns. The Council agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £200 for the avoidable distress and inconvenience caused.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council repeatedly sends him Penalty Charge Notices for his vehicle despite the perpetrating vehicle having a different registration plate to his.
2. Mr X says the Council has sent him 15 Penalty Charge Notices in the last two years. Mr X says the repeated contacts by the Council are causing him distress and inconvenience.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered all the information Mr X provided. I have also asked the Council questions and requested information, and in turn have considered the Council’s response.
6. Mr X and the Council had opportunity to comment on my draft decision before I made my final decision.

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What I found

Enforcement of Clean Air Zones

7. To improve air quality, some councils have introduced Clean Air Zones (CAZ). A CAZ is an area where targeted action is taken to improve the air quality by discouraging the most polluting vehicles from entering the zone. No vehicle is banned but certain vehicles which do not meet the omission standards will need to pay a daily charge if they travel within it.
8. The Council enforces CAZs using Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR). If the ANPR camera records a vehicle in the CAZ which does not meet emissions standards and has not made a payment by the sixth day after using the CAZ, then the Council will issue the registered keeper of the vehicle with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).
9. The PCN gives drivers 28 days to make representations to the Council if they disagree with the charge.
10. If the Council accepts a driver’s representations or considers there are other compelling reasons to cancel the PCN then it should do so and refund any sum which has already been paid.

What happened

11. In February 2022, the Council issued Mr X with a PCN for travelling in the CAZ. Mr X disputed the PCN on 16 March 2022 stating his vehicle was on his drive and he had not been to Birmingham in years.
12. The Council issued four further PCNs to Mr X in March 2022 and April 2022. Mr X disputed each of these PCNs repeating his concerns about the Council issuing the PCNs. On 2 May 2022, Mr X told the Council the vehicle’s registration plate subject to the PCN had a “O” in it while his vehicle had a “D”. The Council cancelled the PCNs on 11 May 2022 and told Mr X accordingly.
13. The Council issued a further PCN in May 2022 which, following a dispute from Mr X, it cancelled in July 2022. The Council did the same for two further PCNs issued in July 2022, cancelling these in September 2022.
14. Mr X lodged a formal complaint with the Council on 11 August 2022 about the repeat issuing of PCNs. Mr X said the repeat issuing of PCNs is causing him stress and asked if the Council could do something to prevent it issuing the PCNs for the wrong vehicle.
15. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint to advise while its ANPR cameras have a high degree of accuracy there are occasional misreads. The Council apologised for the inconvenience caused but advised Mr X would need to dispute each PCN when received. The Council said the only way it knows about errors is if people raise a dispute.
16. The council issued Mr X with two further PCNs in December 2022 which, following a dispute from Mr X, it cancelled in March 2023.
17. The Council sent Mr X five further PCNs in June and August 2023. Mr X again disputed the PCNs before bringing his complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (the Ombudsman).
18. The Council cancelled Mr X’s remaining PCNs on 19 September 2023. The Council said it had deleted Mr X’s name and address from its case files.

Analysis

19. The Council has a procedure for handling recurring problems with numberplate recognition. The Council will first put vehicle’s registration plate on a high-risk list meaning the number plate is flagged up to the officer reviewing the captured images. This showed a vehicle has been previously wrongly issued PCNs by the Council. The system requires an officer to check the details carefully before issuing a PCN.
20. The Council added Mr X’s vehicle to its high-risk list following his concerns about the repeat issuing of PCNs for the wrong vehicle. Despite the Council adding Mr X’s vehicle to the high-risk list the Council continued to send PCNs to him. The Council has explained the reason it continued to issue PCNs to Mr X is because of the similarity between the two vehicles. Not only is the number plate similar but so is the make of vehicle. This means when the Council officers review the image of the vehicle they are incorrectly deciding that it is Mr X’s vehicle.
21. Following the September 2023 cancellation of Mr X’s remaining PCNs, the Council added Mr X’s vehicle to its white-list. This means the Council’s CAZ system will not process Mr X’s vehicle’s registration plate when the ANPR cameras register his vehicle, or the vehicle with the similar registration plate. Since September 2023, the Council has not issued any further PCNs for Mr X’s vehicle. I consider the Council has now resolved the individual issue in Mr X’s complaint preventing it issuing further PCNs to him.
22. The Council has also shown that it is trying to resolving the underlying issues in its CAZ system. Since February 2022, the Council has made changes to its camera set-up and software, reducing the number of misreads, and improved their officers software and equipment. The result has been a reduction in the number of misreads from 0.26% to 0.043% from February 2022 to February 2023. While the Council has not been able to completely remove the errors from its system, it has taken suitable steps to minimise misreads and improve its service. I do not consider further recommendations by the Ombudsman are needed in this circumstance when the Council is already taking suitable measures to improve its service.
23. While the Council has resolved the individual issues for Mr X and shown it is improving its systems, Mr X has experienced distress and frustration from the Council’s action over 18 months.
24. The Council sent generic letters in response to each of Mr X’s disputes. These did not explain what the Council was doing to address the recurring problem. Additionally, it also took the Council 16 months, issuing a further 11 PCNs during this time, from Mr X making it aware of the misread issue before the Council added the vehicle to its white-list. I have found fault for the poor communication and delays in handling Mr X’s concerns which caused him frustration and inconvenience.

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Agreed Action

25. Within two months of the Ombudsman’s final decision the Council should:
• Provide an apology to Mr X and pay him £200 for the avoidable frustration and inconvenience caused by the Council repeatedly issuing wrong PCNs, poor communication and delays in resolving his concerns.
26. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

27. There was fault by the Council as the Council has agreed to my recommendation, I have completed my investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman