Summary: We will not investigate how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint about its administration of a parking penalty charge notice as this does not cause him a level of injustice that would justify our further involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has wrongly dealt with his complaint relating to a parking penalty charge notice (PCN) via its corporate complaints procedure when this policy says it cannot be used for PCN complaints. Mr X complains the Council has also passed part of his complaint to an organisation it partners with that delivers parking enforcement, but that this body has not provided any contact details or timescales for completion. Mr X says the Council is pressuring him to pay the PCN and this is impacting on his mental health.

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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 alleged fault has not led to injustice significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X complained to the Council after issues he experienced paying it at the discounted rate of £35. In his complaint, Mr X asked the Council to cancel the PCN or if it would not do this, allow him to pay the discounted rate.
6. The Council reinstated the discounted rate after it sent Mr X its stage one complaint response and provided a further extension in its stage two response.
7. Any alleged fault in the Council’s handling of his complaint has not caused Mr X a significant injustice as the Council provided the outcome he sought, which was to be able to pay the discounted rate. We will not therefore investigate.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he is not caused a level of injustice from the alleged fault that would warrant our further involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman