London Borough of Croydon (23 007 801)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 18 Sep 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about a penalty charge notice issued by the Council. This is because Miss X has used her right of appeal to London Tribunals.
The complaint
- The complainant, Miss X, complains about a penalty charge notice (PCN) issued by the Council for an alleged parking contravention. She says the Council’s civil enforcement officer (CEO) lied in stating she had not displayed her blue badge and the Council ignored her challenges to the PCN. She says she spent £44.68 travelling to the appeal hearing at London Tribunals and believes the Council should reimburse her.
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 law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal about the same matter. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal but cannot investigate if the person has already appealed. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
- London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Miss X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Because Miss X has appealed against the PCN to London Tribunals we have no jurisdiction to investigate any complaint about its issue. This includes whether the CEO was correct in their statement that Miss X had not displayed her blue badge and whether the Council should have issued the PCN in the first place.
- The costs Miss X claims relates to the appeals process and the process itself provides a remedy for this. If Miss X believes the Council acted unreasonably in rejecting her challenges to the PCN and in handling her appeal she could have applied for costs. This is the proper mechanism to determine whether the Council should pay Miss X’s expenses for attending the hearing.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the substantive issue concerns the PCN and Miss X has used her right of appeal against this. If she wished to claim her expenses relating to the appeal process it would have been reasonable for her to apply to London Tribunals for costs.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman