London Borough of Harrow (25 015 774)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 05 Feb 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice because Mr Y has already appealed the matter to the Tribunal and it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council dealt with a complaint where we cannot investigate the substantive issue.
The complaint
- Mr Y complained the Council unlawfully transferred liability for a Penalty Charge Notice to him without a copy of his hire license agreement. He has also complained that the Council failed to respond to his complaint about the issue.
- Mr Y says this meant he had to go to the Tribunal about the matter, causing him upset, worry and inconvenience.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
- It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information Mr Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The law that gives us our powers states that we cannot normally investigate when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we have discretion to investigate if we consider it is not reasonable to expect someone to resort to their appeal rights. However, once someone has used their appeal rights, the situation changes. The courts have found the Ombudsman then has no jurisdiction to investigate. As Mr Y has already used his right to approach the Tribunal we cannot investigate.
- As we are not investigating the substantive issue, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council dealt with or responded to Mr Y’s complaint. We will not investigate.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr Y’s complaint because Mr Y has already appealed the matter to the Tribunal and it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council dealt with a complaint where we cannot investigate the substantive issue.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman