Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice issued by Transport for London. This is because it would have been reasonable for Miss X to make formal representations to the Authority and appeal to London Tribunals.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about a penalty charge notice (PCN) issued by Transport for London (TfL). She says she believes she may have paid the charge for using the Blackwall Tunnel and wants TfL to look into this claim and either cancel the PCN or reduce the penalty charge to the original discounted rate.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6.  
7. If Miss X believed she had paid the relevant charge it would have been reasonable for her to challenge the PCN via the appeals process. The process is free and relatively straightforward to use and I have seen no good reasons why Miss X could not have used it in this case.
8. Miss X has provided information to show she tried to challenge the PCN at the first stage of the process by writing to TfL with her formal representations, but she did so outside the statutory timescales. TfL was therefore under no obligation to consider them and decided there were no good reasons to do so in this case. It gave Miss X the option to provide evidence to show she could not have made her representations sooner but Miss X did not provide any such evidence. I do not therefore consider we should exercise our discretion to investigate this complaint.
9. In any event, Miss X has provided no evidence to show she did pay the relevant charge on the date concerned and if she did not, there would be no basis for us to recommend TfL reduces the penalty charge to the original discounted rate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it would have been reasonable for Miss X to make representations in-time to TfL and to appeal to London Tribunals.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman