London Borough of Haringey (26 001 482)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 17 May 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council handled her concerns about it mistakenly issuing Penalty Charge Notices. This is because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains the Council mistakenly issued several Penalty Charge Notices despite her having a valid exemption and highlighting the issue.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mrs X complained to the Council about receiving Penalty Charge Notices despite having a valid exemption. The Council recognised the issue and apologised.
- Mrs X complained that she received another Penalty Charge Notice. The Council apologised again and explained it was caused by a technical fault. It said it had set up a new system of secondary checks. It apologised for the delay in responding to her complaint and offered her £30 in recognition.
- Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. I will not investigate this complaint as I do not consider the alleged injustice is significant enough to justify an investigation by the Ombudsman.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman