Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice issued by Transport for London. This is because Mr X has used the alternative remedy available to him to challenge the authority’s escalation of the case.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains he didn’t receive a penalty charge notice (PCN) from Transport for London (TfL) and only found out about the PCN at a later stage. He paid TfL’s enforcement agents (bailiffs) and TfL has since agreed to refund part of his payment, but Mr X wants it to cancel the PCN and refund the remaining amount in full.

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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 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)
4. 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.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Authority.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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Final decision

7. We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X has applied to the TEC to challenge TfL’s escalation of the case on the grounds he did not receive the original PCN. The restriction at Paragraph 3 therefore applies and we cannot consider a complaint about the same issue.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman