Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice issued by the Council. This is because it would be reasonable for Mr X to apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court to make a late witness statement/statutory declaration.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains he did not receive a penalty charge notice (PCN) or any subsequent correspondence about the PCN from the Council. He only found out about the PCN after the Council instructed enforcement agents (bailiffs) to pursue him for payment.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
4. The Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) is part of Northampton County Court. It considers applications from local authorities to pursue payment of unpaid PCNs and from motorists to challenge local authorities’ pursuit of unpaid PCNs.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Councils issue correspondence about PCNs to the address of the registered keeper, as held by the DVLA. They do not carry out further checks at every subsequent stage of the process unless there are good reasons, so even if the motorist changes their address with the DVLA after the council issues the initial notice any future notices will go to the original address.
8. Mr X says he moved around the time the Council issued the PCN and he did not therefore receive any correspondence about it until the Council’s bailiffs traced him to his new address. He paid the PCN to avoid further escalation and fees but wants the Council to refund the additional charges he paid.
9. In this case it would be reasonable for Mr X to apply to the TEC to make a late witness statement/statutory declaration. He may do this on the grounds he did not receive the PCN. If the TEC accepts his application it can order the Council to take the process back to an earlier stage, reducing the amount of the PCN and removing any additional charges. If the TEC refuses Mr X’s application he may apply for a review of its decision.
10. I have seen nothing to suggest it would be unreasonable to expect Mr X to use this process and I will not therefore exercise our discretion to investigate the matter further.
11. Mr X is also unhappy with the way the Council dealt with his complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it would be reasonable for Mr X to make an application to the TEC to take the process back to an earlier stage.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman