Reading Borough Council (26 001 244)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the enforcement of a Penalty Charge Notice. It is reasonable to expect the complainant to apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to seek to regain their appeal rights, and 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 them their right to appeal against it. They say the matter has wrongly progressed through the enforcement procedure because the documents and bailiff letters were sent to her old address.
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’s responses. I have considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- Ms X made an out of time witness statement to the Traffic Enforcement Centre which is a County Court. It is for the Court to decide whether to accept her statement and return the penalty to the Council so that she has new rights of appeal to the Traffic penalty Tribunal, or to reject her statement application.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate this complaint because it was reasonable to expect the complainant to apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to regain their appeal rights and may then appeal if the TEC agrees.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman