Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice and enforcement action. It would be reasonable for Mr X to approach the Traffic Enforcement Centre and ask to make a late witness statement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council took enforcement action against unpaid Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) after he had told it he had a medical condition. Mr X also complains about poor complaints handling.

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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. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (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. 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)
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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

10. The Council issued Mr X six PCNs.
11. When a council issues a PCN the motorist has 28 days to pay the penalty charge or appeal; appeals at this stage are known as informal challenges. If the Council decides not to accept an informal challenge, the motorist can make formal representations against the PCN. If the council rejects the motorist’s formal representations the motorist may appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
12. If the motorist does not pay or make formal representations the council will issue a charge certificate, increasing the amount payable by 50%. It may then apply to the TEC to register the debt, before instructing enforcement agents bailiffs to recover it.
13. Mr X says it was not possible for him to make formal representations to the Council at the time due to a medical condition. Because Mr X did not request adjustments or make the Council aware of his condition until after the charge certificate was issued, there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council not making adjustments at this point.
14. If Mr X feels he could not make formal representations because of his medical condition, he can submit a late witness statement to the TEC, asking it to take the process back to an earlier stage, reducing the amount of the PCN and reinstating his right of appeal against it to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
15. This is often free in the initial stages and reasonable adjustments can be made where necessary for access to the service. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to use this right to appeal.
16. We will also not investigate how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint as it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint handling when we are not looking at the substantive issue.

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Final decision

17. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. It would be reasonable for Mr X to approach the Traffic Enforcement Centre and ask to make a late witness statement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman