Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council wrongly issued him with a penalty charge notice for driving a hired vehicle in a Clean Air Zone. The Council has already taken appropriate steps to remedy the injustice it caused him.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council wrongly issued him with a penalty charge notice for driving a hired vehicle in a Clean Air Zone and then took too long to resolve the matter.
2. Mr X says this caused him and his wife financial harm and emotional distress and also had an impact on his wife’s physical health.
3. He wants the Council to pay him between £1,000 and £2,000 compensation.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

6. Mr X was issued with a penalty charge notice for driving a hired vehicle in a Clean Air Zone. The Council did not receive payment from Mr X and so passed the debt onto an Enforcement Agency. Mr X only became aware of this when an Enforcement Agent telephoned him and requested payment of the fine and associated costs. He paid the fines to avoid further action.
7. Mr X complained to the Council. He says it did not resolve the matter with any sense of urgency until his MP became involved. The Council then investigated and discovered it and the vehicle hire company had made a mistake and Mr X had not been driving the vehicle.
8. The Council reimbursed all costs relating to the fine and enforcement action and offered Mr X £100 for the distress it caused him. When Mr X said paying the fine had led him to become overdrawn, the Council said if he sent in proof of any interest payments, it would reimburse him.
9. We will not investigate this complaint. Mr X became aware of the unpaid fine just before Christmas 2024. By mid-February 2025, when he complained to the Council, it refunded the money he had paid. Therefore, the Council’s offer of £100 is appropriate to remedy any outstanding injustice it caused Mr X.

Back to top

Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not add to the previous investigation carried out by the Council.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman