Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling and escalation of a penalty charge notice. This is because Mr X has taken the matter to the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about a penalty charge notice (PCN) issued by the Council for a parking contravention. He also complains the Council failed to respond to his representations against the PCN or explain why it was issued.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review 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 use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court but cannot investigate if the person has already taken the matter to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
6. The Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) is part of Northampton County Court. It considers applications from local authorities to pursue payment of unpaid PCNs and from motorists to challenge local authorities’ pursuit of unpaid PCNs.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by Mr X’s representative, Mr Y, and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

The statutory process

9. There is a set procedure councils must follow when pursuing PCNs for parking contraventions and handling appeals against them. When a council issues a PCN the motorist has 28 days to pay the penalty charge or appeal; appeals at this stage are known as ‘informal challenges’.
10. If the motorist submits an informal challenge to a PCN and the Council decides not to accept them, it will write to the motorist and explain why. If the motorist accepts the Council’s reasons they may pay the PCN; if not, they may wait for a ‘notice to owner’. This provides a further opportunity for the owner of the vehicle to pay the charge or make ‘formal representations’ against the PCN. If the council rejects the motorist’s formal representations the motorist may appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
11. If the motorist does not pay or make formal representations the council will issue a charge certificate, increasing the amount payable by 50%. It may then apply to the TEC at Northampton County Court to register the debt, before instructing enforcement agents (bailiffs) to recover it.

Mr X’s case

12. The Council says Mr X did not informally challenge the PCN or make formal representations against it within the relevant timeframe. It received representations against the PCN from Mr X after the time limit for appealing had passed but it declined to consider these as it was entitled to do. By this point it had already issued a charge certificate and because Mr X still did not pay it escalated the case and registered the unpaid PCN as a debt with the TEC. It then instructed bailiffs to visit his property and Mr X paid the PCN, along with the relevant surcharges and additional fees, at that point.
13. Mr X disputes the Council’s version of events and says he made representations against the PCN “well within the prescribed time limit”. He says he believed he had paid for parking and that had the Council explained the reasons it issued the PCN he could have paid it sooner and at a lower rate. But he has applied to the TEC to challenge the Council’s escalation of the case on this basis and we cannot therefore consider the issue.

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Final decision

14. We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X has used the alternative remedy available to him to challenge the Council’s escalation of the PCN.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman