Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s issuing and handling of a Penalty Charge Notice. This is because part of the complaint is out of our jurisdiction and we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains about the Council’s decision to issue him a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), whilst he was temporarily abroad. He believes the PCN should be cancelled.
2. Mr Y complains about the Council’s decision to pass the debt to enforcement agents. He says this has created unnecessary anxiety for him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
5. The courts have said that where someone has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, we cannot investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916).
6. 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.
7. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by Mr Y and the Council.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. Mr Y received a PCN Mr Y did not make formal representations against the PCN. As the Council did not receive payment and no appeal was made it issued a Charge Certificate. Following this, as the PCN remained unpaid, the Council issued an Order for Recovery.
11. Mr Y says he was temporarily abroad and did not receive the documents on time. The Council says it sent the documents to the address that Mr Y had recorded with the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA). Mr Y accepts he was the driver, and therefore liable for the PCN.
12. Mr Y made an out of time statutory declaration application to the TEC, but this was refused.
13. We will not look at this part of the complaint because Mr Y made an application to the TEC If Mr Y disagreed with TEC’s decision it would have been reasonable for him to have made an application to the county court.
14. Mr Y says that the Council should not have passed the outstanding debt to enforcement officers. From the evidence I have seen, I am satisfied the Council followed the correct process in taking enforcement action against Mr Y. I am therefore unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.
15. Mr Y says there were significant procedural delays in the Council’s handling of his complaint. The Council has accepted this, acknowledging service errors. It says it will use Mr Y’s feedback to improve its processes.
16. 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.

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Final decision

17. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because part of the complaint is out of our jurisdiction and we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman