Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about parking penalty charge notices as Mr X could have appealed to London Tribunals.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council issued him with three parking penalty charge notices (PCNs) after his permit to park had expired. Mr X complains the Council sent him reminders to renew his permit by e-mail which he says were delivered to his junk e-mail box due to technical misconfigurations of the Council's e-mail system. Mr X wants the Council to revert to issuing permit renewal reminders by letter and to be refunded the PCN charges.

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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 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X had the right to continue to challenge the PCNs, ultimately with an appeal to the independent parking adjudicators at London Tribunals and it is reasonable to expect him to have followed this statutory appeal procedure. The Tribunal could have considered Mr X’s mitigating circumstances and decided whether the Council ought to give further consideration to his case.
7. We are not another level of challenge in this statutory process.
8. For these reasons, we will not investigate the complaint

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he had the right to appeal the PCNs to London Tribunals and it is reasonable to expect him to have done so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman