Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about penalty charge notices because Mr Y has already appealed to the Traffic Enforcement Centre.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complained the Council has wrongly pursued him for a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), which he thought had been paid in full, but had a remaining balance accruing after payment due to a system error. He is also unhappy with the Council’s responses to his complaint.
2. Mr Y says the penalty has now significantly increased and feels it is unfair, given that he had tried to pay the penalty.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
5. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information Mr Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. In June 2024, Mr Y paid a total of £140 to pay for two PCNs he had received. Mr Y says he believed he had paid the penalties in full. However, he later received further notices for the penalties, he says due to a system error, which means each penalty should have amounted to £105, rather than £70 each. Mr Y then paid the outstanding amount on one of the penalties, but was unable to pay the amount of the remaining PCN as it had been passed to enforcement agents. Mr Y says he was then told he would be contacted by the Council but then only received contact from bailiffs.
8. Mr Y then appealed the remaining PCN to the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) based at Northampton County Court, through a late witness statement, but the appeal was rejected. He then approached us.
9. The law that sets out our powers to investigate complaints, places restrictions on what we are able to investigate. This includes matters where someone has approached the court about the same matter. In this case, as Mr Y has already appealed to the TEC, which is part of the Northampton County Court, we do not have the power to investigate the issues he has complained about. Consequently, we cannot investigate his complaint.
10. As we are unable to investigate the substantive matter, it is not a good use of public funds for us to investigate how the Council dealt with this complaint. Consequently, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because he has already appealed to the Traffic Enforcement Centre.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman