Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about penalty charge notices. This is because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Authority, or lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains he has suffered inconvenience and cost by having to dispute a wrongly issued penalty charge notice. The Authority has accepted his objections and cancelled the charges. Mr X is seeking a further financial remedy and a change in the Authority’s communication requirements to allow email rather than post.

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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 impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Although Mr X has spent time contacting the Authority about the penalty charge notices, the Authority has considered his objections and waived any charges.
6. It is not fault for the Authority to receive representations and supporting information against PCNs only by post. It does not require the Authority to receive them by other means. And the law also accepts people may incur time, cost, and effort in challenging PCNs, regardless of their reasons. There is no provision for reimbursement.
7. We do not investigate every complaint we receive. We are publicly funded and have a duty to use the funds allocated to us effectively and efficiently.
8. The Authority has already resolved the reason for Mr X’s complaint through its own procedures, so we shall record it as upheld.
9. But an investigation by the Ombudsman would not add anything worthwhile to that already carried out by the Authority, nor lead to a recommendation of compensation which is the outcome Mr X seeks.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to add to what the Authority has already done.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman