Summary: We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice she received for an alleged parking contravention. This is because it was reasonable for Mrs B to challenge this PCN by putting in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complains the Council wrongly issued her with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for an alleged parking contravention. Mrs B says there is not clear signage in this location to alert motorists to the parking payment requirements. Mrs B says she had to pay £25 to cancel this PCN and she has been caused a lot of distress. Mrs B would like the Council to admit fault and put clear signs up.

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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 Act 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.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mrs B.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. A motorist may pay a PCN to cancel it. Or, the motorist may follow the statutory representations and appeals process to challenge a PCN. This involves the motorist making formal representations to the local authority after receiving a Notice to Owner. If the local authority rejects these representations, the motorist may put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (for authorities outside London).
8. The Tribunal is independent and has the power to cancel a PCN. The process is free to use and relatively straightforward. We generally expect motorists to use this process if they consider a PCN was wrongly issued.
9. Rather than pay this PCN, Mrs B could have used this process to challenge this PCN.
10. The Tribunal would have considered whether this PCN was correctly issued including Mrs B’s concerns about the signage.
11. I find it was reasonable for Mrs B to do this. The Tribunal was in the best position to decide the issue complained about.
12. So, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because it was reasonable for her to put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman