Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice. This is because further investigation would not achieve anything more.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Authority sent several Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) to a former address he could no longer access. As a result, by the time he became aware of them, the charges had already escalated and increased. He does not dispute the PCNs but asks the Authority to reset them to their original amounts given the circumstances.

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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 impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Authority.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

My Assessment

5. We will not investigate this complaint. The Authority has considered Mr X’s representations and agreed to exercise its discretion to pause enforcement and reset the charges to their original amounts, which is the outcome Mr X wanted. Therefore, we cannot achieve anything further by investigating.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint as further investigation will not achieve anything more.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman