Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice. Miss X used her right to submit an out of time witness statement to the Traffic Enforcement Centre. Although unsuccessful, we cannot consider the matter as well.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council wrongly fined her for being in a bus lane. She said the Council refused to refer her representations to its legal team. Miss X said taking the matter to court would be a waste of taxpayers’ money, and the matter had caused her significant distress. She wanted the Council to refer the matter to its legal team and revoke the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
3. We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))
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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. The Council issued Miss X a PCN for being stationary in a bus lane. Miss X says she was gathering herself after an incident that had occurred.
8. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal considers appeals against parking PCNs. When someone has a right of appeal to tribunal, we will not normally investigate the matter as it is usually reasonable for the person to use their statutory right of appeal. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body.
9. Miss X did not appeal and the Council therefore progressed to issuing a Charge Certificate and registering the matter with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC). The TEC is a court.
10. Miss X then had the right to submit a witness statement to the TEC. This provides an opportunity, if successful, for the matter to regress back to the stage at which the person can appeal or pay the original fine. We would normally expect someone to use this right, rather than complain to us.
11. Miss X submitted an out of time witness statement, however this was rejected by the TEC. Miss X then complained to us.
12. Where a person has used their right to refer the matter to a court, the law says we cannot also investigate the matter. This remains the case even when the person’s court application has not been successful. We cannot consider Miss X’s complaint.
13. We will also not consider peripheral complaints relating to how the Council handled the matter. The ability to file a witness statement provides an alternative remedy for any complaint about fault in the process by the Council. It was reasonable for Miss X to include all complaints about the Council’s actions as part of her witness statement. It is not for us to pass judgement on the decision of the TEC to reject Miss X’s witness statement. We cannot investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

14. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because she used her right to submit an out of time witness statement to the Traffic Enforcement Centre.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman