Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about parking penalties because it is late without good reason to exercise discretion to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Miss Y complained the Council wrongly pursued her for a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) when she had paid for parking. Miss Y says the Council then did not properly consider her evidence against the PCN and handled her complaint poorly.
2. Miss Y says this caused her upset and inconvenience.

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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 late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, 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 Miss Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council issued a PCN to Miss Y in March 2023. Miss Y paid the PCN and made a complaint to the Council after she was contacted by enforcement agents in September 2023. In an email, in which she said she was unhappy with the Council’s response to her complaint, Miss Y said she would approach the Ombudsman if she needed to, as she felt she should not have received the PCN. Miss Y then approached us in March 2025.
8. The law says people should normally complain to us within 12 months of becoming aware of an issue. Complaints brought to the Ombudsman more than 12 months after someone becomes aware of something a council has done are considered late. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons.
9. Miss Y was aware of her reason to complain about the Council’s actions when she complained to the Council in 2023, more than 12 months before she approached us. Consequently, her complaint is now late.
10. We have discretion to disapply the rule outlined in paragraph four where we decide there are good reasons. Miss Y has not provided any good reasons why she did not bring her complaint to us within 12 months of knowing about the matter. It is reasonable to expect her to have complained sooner. Consequently, her complaint is late with no good reason for us to exercise discretion to investigate it now, so we will not investigate.
11. Albeit the complaint is late, we also will not consider how the Council dealt with Miss Y’s complaint, as we are not investigating the substantive matter and it would not be a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council dealt with Miss Y’s complaint.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss Y’s complaint because it is late without good reason to exercise discretion to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman