Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about Transport for London’s handling of Miss X’s representations against a penalty charge notice. This is because the matter has been considered at court and by London Tribunals.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about a penalty charge notice (PCN) which she says she is not responsible for. She says her vehicle registration number was cloned and she has evidence to show her car was hundreds of miles away at the time of the contravention. She says she provided evidence of this to Transport for London (TfL) but it refused to cancel the PCN.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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 the person has already been to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
5. 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.
6. 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 we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right but cannot investigate if the person has already appealed. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
7. London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

10. Where an authority issues a PCN and the motorist does not pay, the authority may escalate the case and register the unpaid PCN as a debt with the TEC. The motorist may then apply to the TEC to cancel the authority’s escalation of the case on certain grounds.
11. Miss X has used this process to challenge TfL’s escalation of the case and as a result the TEC referred the case to London Tribunals to consider. The restrictions set out at Paragraphs 4 and 6 therefore apply.
12. TfL has also confirmed it decided not to contest the case and has now cancelled the PCN. We would not therefore investigate further even if we had jurisdiction to do so, as TfL’s actions provide a suitable remedy for Miss X.

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Final decision

13. We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because Miss X has challenged TfL’s escalation of the PCN at court and London Tribunals has considered the matter and directed TfL to cancel the PCN.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman