London Borough of Tower Hamlets (25 011 936)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 12 Dec 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in progressing a penalty charge notice. This is because the matter has not caused Mr X significant injustice.
The complaint
- Mr X complains he did not receive a penalty charge notice (PCN) and the Council has failed to register the unpaid PCN as a debt with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) and issue him an ‘order for recovery’. He cannot therefore currently apply to the TEC to make a statutory declaration to challenge the Council’s escalation of the case.
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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
- I appreciate Mr X is frustrated and says the Council’s delay has caused him stress, but the injustice he describes is not significant enough to warrant investigation. While the case is awaiting registration with the TEC the Council cannot add any additional charges and once it has registered the case Mr X will be able to make his statutory declaration. If it does not, the Council cannot pursue Mr X any further.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s delay has not caused Mr X significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman