London Borough of Lambeth (24 013 799)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Jan 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s complaint handling as any injustice to Mr X from alleged Council fault is not sufficient to justify our further involvement.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the outcome of his complaint to the Council which he says did not resolve issues he has with penalty charges notices (PCNs) it issued to him. Mr X would like an apology, reimbursement of postage costs and a financial payment for the time he has spent pursuing the matter and distress experienced.
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 impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- There is inevitably time and trouble and some distress involved in bringing a complaint and we consider this only requires a remedy when any fault in considering a complaint has led to injustice above what is considered usual. I do not consider Mr X has provided evidence of this and as such, there are not grounds for us to investigate.
- While Mr X says in his complaint to us that his complaint is not about the PCN, it is important to note that Parliament has provided an appeal mechanism to challenge PCNs which Mr X could have used, and which would also have required time and trouble from Mr X. Parliament did not make any provision in this appeal process for recompense for such time and trouble, except in exceptional circumstances. Equally, this is not a matter we would seek a financial remedy for.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of an injustice sufficient to justify our further action.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman