Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to Mr X’s complaint about penalties issued for breaching vehicle weight restrictions. There is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to prevent his company vehicles being issued with traffic penalties (PCN’s) for accessing a weight restricted road which he has access exemptions to. He says the Council’s penalty appeals website lacks a category for the offence the PCN was issued for which causes additional inconvenience and work.

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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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not 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 and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X says the Council has issued several traffic penalties for his vehicles passing through a weight-restricted zone on a contract where this is the only access route. He says his vehicles are exempt from the restriction but the Council continues to issue penalties which he has had to appeal to it. Although the Council has cancelled the penalties he has appealed he says it is time-consuming for him and the Council and its online website is inadequate for the type of offence appealed.
6. The Council says that its parking and traffic services have been involved with Mr X’s compalint and they are looking for a solution which involves software provided by an external supplier.
7. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council could not suspend the restrictions without changing a traffic order and if it did so other vehicles may exceed the weight limit with impunity causing more local inconvenience. Whilst it is unfortunate that Mr X has had difficulty appealing the PCN’s he has received the Council has cancelled penalties he has appealed. The appeals system is functional until a solution for the online form categories can be identified.
8. 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. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to Mr X’s complaint about penalties issued for breaching vehicle weight restrictions. There is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman