Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice and the Council’s use of enforcement agents. This is because Mr X had a right of appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, and it is reasonable to expect him to have used this. The Council has also considered his request for reasonable adjustments and gave him the opportunity to pay the penalty charge notice directly to them.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about a penalty charge notice (PCN) and the Council’s use of enforcement agents.
2. Mr X also complains that the Council did not consider his request for reasonable adjustments because of his health issues.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)).

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Mr X complains about a PCN and the Council’s use of enforcement agents to recover the sum due. However, Mr X had a right of appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, and we consider it reasonable to expect him to use this right.
9. Mr X also complained that the Council did not take his health issues into account. I have seen that the Council did consider his request for reasonable adjustments and gave him the opportunity to pay the PCN direct to them.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he had appeal rights to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. Also, there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s consideration of his health needs to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman