Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s enforcement of an unpaid penalty charge notice. This is because any fault by the Council did not cause Mr X a level of injustice that would warrant our further involvement and it is unlikely an investigation would achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s enforcement of a penalty charge notice (PCN).

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. The Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) is part of Northampton County Court. It considers applications from local authorities to pursue payment of unpaid PCNs and from motorists to challenge local authorities’ pursuit of unpaid PCNs.

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council issued a penalty charge notice to Mr X. He filed a witness statement with the Traffic Enforcement Centre, and it ordered the Council to revoke recovery and cancel the charge certificate. It did not cancel the original penalty charge notice and advised Mr X to contact the Council as it may take further action.
7. The Council said it revoked recovery action and cancelled the charge certificate. It issued a new penalty charge notice but Mr X did not respond. It then issued a new charge certificate and began recovery action again. Mr X then contacted the Council and it noted it had sent the order to a previous address, so it cancelled the penalty charge notice.
8. I will not investigate this complaint as any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. The Council has cancelled the penalty charge notice and the Ombudsman could not achieve anything further for Mr X.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient injustice and an investigation would not achieve a worthwhile outcome for Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman