Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s issue and escalation of a penalty charge notice. This is because Mr X has used his right of appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and challenged the Council’s escalation of the case twice with the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about a penalty charge notice (PCN) issued by the Council for driving in its clean air zone without paying the charge. He says he provided the Council with evidence to show he had paid the charge and challenged the Council’s escalation of the case, but the Council has continued to pursue it.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right but cannot investigate if they have already used it. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for all areas of England outside London.
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court but cannot investigate if they have already been to court about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
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.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

9. Mr X has used his right of appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and twice applied to the TEC to challenge the Council’s escalation of the PCN. We cannot therefore investigate any complaint about the issue or validity of the PCN as set out at Paragraph 3, or about the Council’s handling or escalation of the case as set out at Paragraph 5.

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Final decision

10. We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X has used the alternative remedies available to him to challenge the PCN and the Council’s escalation of the case.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman