West Northamptonshire Council (26 000 709)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 19 May 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the enforcement of a Penalty Charge Notice. The complainant has applied to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to seek to regain their appeal rights. If it upholds her application she can then to appeal to a tribunal.
The complaint
- Ms X says the Council failed to follow the correct procedure for a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and denied her the right to appeal against it. She says the Council did not provide enough information about the PCN before it progressed the matter through to its enforcement agent.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes limits on what we can investigate.
- We cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court or use 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 go to court or appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(6)(a) and (c), as amended).
- London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London, and the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for the rest of England. The Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC), part of the county court, considers applications to set the PCN process back where there has been procedural fault.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information from the complainant and the Council, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X complained to the Council regarding the matters in paragraph 1.
- The Council advised Ms X to raise a complaint with the enforcement agent. However, the agent said it received a complaint from a third party, and it did not have Ms X’s consent to respond.
- Ms X said she has applied to the TEC to regain her appeal rights.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate this complaint because Ms X has applied to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to regain her appeal rights. She can then appeal to the Tribunal if the TEC agrees.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman