Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice issued by the Council for an alleged parking contravention. This is because it was reasonable for Mr B to put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains the Council wrongly issued and enforced a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for an alleged parking contravention. Mr B says the signage in this location was heavily obscured by dirt and not reasonably legible. Mr B also says that a Freedom of Information request has confirmed that the Council has no inspection regime, no maintenance records, and no documented evidence of the condition of the sign at the time of the alleged contravention. Mr B says he has been required to pay an unjust financial penalty and the matter has caused him avoidable stress and inconvenience.

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

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr B.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. 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 after receiving a Notice to Owner.
8. If the local authority rejects these representations, the motorist may put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (for authorities outside London).
9. The Tribunal is independent and the process is free to use and relatively straightforward.
10. We generally expect motorists to use this process if they consider a PCN was wrongly issued. Once a PCN has been paid it is cancelled. A motorist cannot pay a PCN and challenge it.
11. Rather than pay this PCN, Mr B could have challenged it by following the representations and appeals process. I find it was reasonable for Mr B to do this.
12. Mr B did not consider the signage in this location was clear to motorists at the time the PCN was issued. Mr B has photographs to support this view and I find he did not need to wait for the information provided in response to his Freedom of Information request to challenge this PCN. The Tribunal was in the best position to decide whether this PCN was correctly issued including whether the parking restrictions in place were clear to motorists at the time of the contravention.
13. So, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because it was reasonable for him to use the statutory representations process, and if needed, put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman