Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice. Miss X used her right to submit an out-of-time statutory declaration to the Traffic Enforcement Centre. The law prevents us considering a complaint about the matter.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council did not communicate properly with her about the process for appealing a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), which she says was due to the Council’s poor signage. She says the Council also refused to consider a complaint about the matter.
2. Miss X says events have caused her significant distress and financial difficulty, and enforcement action has impacted her ability to travel to important health appointments. She wants the Council to cancel the PCN and pay financial compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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. The courts have said that where someone has used their right of appeal, reference or review or remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
5. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the Traffic Enforcement Centre. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Miss X received a PCN in late 2022. The London Local Authorities and Transport for London Act 2003 allows a 14 day discount period. People who receive a PCN have the option of making formal representations to the authority and then appealing to London Tribunals if the authority rejects their representations.
9. Miss X says the Council denied her a right of appeal by not providing her a validation code to use London Tribunals’ online service. The Council says Miss X received its notice of rejection which included the code, but Miss X says she did not. Regardless of whose account is correct, Miss X had the option of submitting an appeal by post without a code. She did not do so.
10. If a PCN remains unpaid and not successfully challenged following the 14-day period, councils can register the debt with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC). They also have the right to increase the charge owed, and the recipient no longer has the right to make representations.
11. However, the TEC accounts for the fact that people sometimes may not receive written communications. Miss X says she did not receive the Council’s notice of rejection. Where a person submits a statutory declaration to the TEC explaining they did not receive correspondence, the TEC can revert the PCN back to the council for it to reissue the correspondence, restoring the person’s appeal rights. The TEC may also consider out-of-time statutory declarations where it considers the person’s reasons for delay were valid. Miss X submitted an out-of-time statutory declaration several months later.
12. We would not normally investigate complaints about PCNs because of the alternative routes for recourse via a tribunal and court. Once the debt was passed to the TEC, Miss X’s right to challenge the matter was via the TEC. She used this right, and where a person has used their right to involve the courts, we no longer have discretion to investigate. It was for the TEC to decide whether Miss X’s reasons for delay were valid. The TEC refused her application, and we have no power to consider the matter as well. We cannot change the TEC’s decision, and the Council was entitled to recover the debt based on the TEC’s decision.

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Final decision

13. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because she used her statutory right to file a statutory declaration to the Traffic Enforcement Centre.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman