Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a parking penalty the Council issued to Mr X. It was reasonable for Mr X to appeal the matter to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and there is not a good reason for us to consider a complaint about the matter instead.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council’s traffic warden gave him a parking ticket for stopping in a loading bay. Mr X said he had stopped to load his disabled daughter into his vehicle, and said the bay was not clearly marked. Mr X said he complained to the Council but it rejected his representations and increased the penalty to over £100.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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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 says the Council’s traffic warden wrongly issued him a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) when he stopped in a loading bay to load his disabled daughter into his vehicle. He considers it unfair for the Council to have issued a PCN for this, and says the bay was also not clearly marked.
6. Mr X says he made representations to the Council but it rejected his reasons and signposted him to us. Subsequently to this, Mr X would have received a Notice to Owner (NtO) in the post. This would have given him information about his right to make formal representations against the PCN and ultimately appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
7. We normally expect people to use statutory appeals processes where they are available. We are not an appeal body and the most we could do is consider whether there was fault in the process the Council followed. We cannot cancel a PCN in the way the Traffic Penalty Tribunal can. In this case, I can see no reason we should investigate a complaint about the matter instead of Mr X having used his statutory right of appeal.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it was reasonable for Mr X to appeal the matter to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and there is not a good reason for us to consider a complaint about the matter instead.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman