London Borough of Havering (25 010 293)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 Dec 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mr X’s three Penalty Charge Notices. This is because he could have followed the statutory process and appealed to a tribunal. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have followed this process.
The complaint
- Mr X complains he received three Penalty Charge Notices (PCN’s), and the Council failed to take into the close proximity of the charges.
- Mr X would like two of the PCN’s cancelled and an apology from the Council.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- After receiving three PCN’s, Mr X made representations to the Council about two of them. He paid a contribution towards one of the PCN’s.
- The Council sent a Notice of Rejection to Mr X regarding his representations.
- Charge certificates have now been issued on all three PCN’s, so Mr X is no longer able to make representations against them. The Council explained in its complaint correspondence that once he has an Order for Recovery he can make a witness statement to the Traffic Enforcement Centre.
- It is reasonable to expect Mr X to use the statutory process to make representations against his PCN’s.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to follow the statutory process.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman