Birmingham City Council (24 013 278)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 Dec 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to her correspondence about a penalty charge notice. This is because the Council has cancelled it and it is unlikely further investigation would achieve anything more for her.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mrs X, complains the Council failed to respond to her ‘informal challenge’ to a penalty charge notice (PCN).
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X’s representative, Mr Y, and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- There is a set process councils must follow when issuing PCNs and handling appeals against them. Where a council issues a PCN by affixing it to the vehicle the motorist may dispute it by making an ‘informal challenge’. There is no set time limit for a council’s response to an informal challenge, but we would normally expect councils to respond within around six to eight weeks.
- The Council acknowledges it took longer than this to respond to Mrs X’s challenge but it says this was because the case was in a queue to be considered for cancellation. It confirms it has now cancelled the PCN and sent confirmation to Mrs X.
- The Council’s cancellation of the PCN provides a suitable remedy for the complaint and it is therefore unlikely further investigation would achieve any worthwhile outcome. While I appreciate Mrs X has been left waiting to find out what would happen, cancellation is the best outcome Mrs X could have hoped for and I do not therefore consider we would recommend anything more.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has cancelled the PCN and it is unlikely further investigation would achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mrs X.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman