Southampton City Council (25 029 356)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice for an alleged parking contravention. This is because it is reasonable for Mr B to put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
The complaint
- Mr B complains the Council wrongly issued him with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for an alleged parking contravention. Mr B says his car was not parked in the zone where the Council claims his car was parked.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- The Traffic Penalty Tribunal considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for all areas of England outside London.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr B.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- 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. If the local authority rejects these representations, the motorist may put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (for authorities outside London). A motorist cannot pay a PCN and use this appeal process.
- 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.
- I find it is reasonable for Mr B to use this process to challenge this PCN. The Tribunal is in the best position to decide if this PCN was correctly issued by the Council.
- So, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because it is reasonable for Mr B to put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman