Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a penalty charge notice. This is because the Council has cancelled the penalty charge notice and refunded Mrs X’s payment for it, and it is unlikely we could achieve anything more for her.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about a penalty charge notice (PCN) issued by the Council when she incorrectly input her car’s vehicle registration number (VRN). She says she paid for parking and is unhappy the Council refused to cancel it in response to her challenge.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
5. London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Mrs X accepts she incorrectly entered her car’s VRN and the Council was not therefore at fault for issuing her a PCN. It also properly considered her challenge to the PCN and was not at fault for refusing it. Had Mrs X wished to dispute the PCN further it would have been reasonable for her to appeal.
9. But Mrs X did not appeal; she paid the PCN to avoid escalation and complained to the Council. The Council then agreed to cancel the PCN and refund Mrs X’s payment. This is the best outcome Mrs X could have hoped for and it is therefore unlikely that further investigation would achieve anything worthwhile for her.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we could achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mrs X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman