London Borough of Newham (25 023 805)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 11 May 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about a parking charge notice because Miss X already used her right of appeal. The law prevents us from investigating complaints which have already been considered by a tribunal.
The complaint
- Miss X complained the Council failed to consider her personal reasons and cancel the penalty charge notice it issued to her when she parked her car in a restricted area. Miss X also complained the Council poorly managed her complaint. Miss X said the matter caused her distress. She wants the Council to cancel the charges and stop any enforcement action. She also wants the Council to apologise to her and make service improvements to prevent a recurrence of faults.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
- London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X appealed the parking charge notice to London Tribunals. The Tribunal considered her appeal and refused it. As Miss X has already used her right of appeal, the law prevents us from investigating her complaint. Therefore, we cannot investigate her complaint.
- As we cannot investigate the substantive matter, we will not consider Miss X’s concerns with how the Council managed her complaint. This is because it would not be a good use of public money to do so.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because the law prevents us from investigating matters which have already been considered by a tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman