Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to withdraw a parking penalty. It was reasonable for Mrs X to use the statutory appeals procedure offered by the legislation to challenge the penalty.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s refusal to withdraw a parking penalty (PCN) when she says she mistakenly entered the wrong vehicle registration onto the online payment system. She says the Council received her payment and was not left out of pocket by her mistake.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for all areas of England outside London.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council’s response.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

6. Mrs X says the Council should withdraw a penalty which she received after you mistakenly input the registration number of a different vehicle she owns into the Council’s online payment system, this resulted in an enforcement officer issuing a penalty because the car was not registered as being paid for in the car park.
7. Mrs X made representations to the Council and said it should reasonably withdraw the penalty because she had paid the parking fee in any case. The council rejected her submissions and advised her that she should wait for the Notice to Owner and appeal to the Adjudicator at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal or pay the discounted charge within 14 days.
8. Mrs X says she paid the discounted amount of £25 because she did not wish to risk having to pay the full amount of £50 if an appeal was unsuccessful. Once she paid the penalty liability was accepted and the case was closed.
9. We will not investigate this complaint. Mrs X had an opportunity to challenge the penalty by appealing once the Council rejected her submissions. She chose to pay the 50% discounted charge and this ended the statutory enforcement procedure.

Back to top

Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to withdraw a parking penalty. It was reasonable for Mrs X to use the statutory appeals procedure offered by the legislation to challenge the penalty.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman