London Borough of Havering (25 001 050)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 02 Jun 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to Mr X’s correspondence about a penalty charge notice. This is because the Council has agreed to accept payment at the discounted rate and this provides a suitable remedy for the complaint.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council did not respond to his correspondence asking it to reduce the amount of a penalty charge. He says he did not receive the penalty charge notice (PCN) as it went to an old address but the Council continued to escalate the case, increasing the amount owed.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Motorists are under a legal obligation to inform the DVLA of any change to their vehicle’s registered address. There is no automatic entitlement to take a PCN back to an earlier stage when the motorist does not receive correspondence because they have moved and not informed the DVLA. Mr X asked the Council to use its discretion to do so and reports that the Council has now agreed to this. He has therefore paid the penalty charge and the case is now closed.
- We are not an appeal body and it is not for us to say the Council must cancel the PCN. I am satisfied the Council’s agreement provides a suitable outcome for Mr X and it is unlikely investigation would achieve anything more for him.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s agreement to accept payment at the discounted rate provides a suitable remedy for Mr X and it is unlikely we could achieve anything more.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman