Essex County Council (23 016 189)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Feb 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about Penalty Charge Notices because Mrs Y has already used her right to appeal to the Traffic Enforcement Centre.
The complaint
- Mrs Y complained the Council has wrongly issued Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) to her, despite the vehicle pictured not being hers.
- Mrs Y says she has had to pay bailiffs over £500 for the PCNs and there are likely to be other costs which she ought not to be liable for.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
- The courts have said that where someone has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, we cannot 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information Mrs Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council issued PCNs to Mrs Y. Mrs Y says she does not own the vehicle pictured, and believes her car registration plate has been cloned. She says she informed the Council of this, but the Council directed her to the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) to appeal. Mrs Y appealed to the TEC, making late statutory declarations for each of the PCNs, but these were refused. Mrs Y was then contacted by bailiffs and had to pay over £500 after her vehicle was clamped.
- As Mrs Y has already approached the TEC, based at Northampton County Court, we cannot by law investigate her complaint, even where the appeal did not provide a complete remedy for the injustice claimed. Consequently, we will not investigate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint because Mrs Y has already used her right to appeal to the Traffic Enforcement Centre.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman