Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Penalty Charge Notices. Mr X has either appealed, or could reasonably have appealed, to a tribunal regarding notices issued in 2025. Other matters are either late or have not caused Mr X a significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) that he has received for parking contraventions over the last two years.

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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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council or care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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. 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)
5. 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)
6. London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a PCN he received in 2024. Mr X’s complaint is made late and I see no good reason why he could not have raised it sooner.
10. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a PCN issued in 2025, which Mr X paid. This is because it was reasonable for him to have used his appeal against this PCN to London Tribunals.
11. I cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about a PCN issued in December 2025. This is because he has used his right of appeal to London Tribunals against this PCN and the law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been appealed to a tribunal.
12. Finally, I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that a second PCN was issued in December for the same contravention. The Council accepted this was issued in error and cancelled the PCN. This error did not cause Mr X a significant enough injustice to warrant investigation by the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has either appealed, or could reasonably have appealed, to a tribunal regarding notices issued in 2025. Other matters are either late or have not caused Mr X a significant injustice

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman