Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice issued to the complainant. The Council has now cancelled the Penalty Charge and this leaves insufficient outstanding injustice to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains that the Council was at fault in issuing her with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and failing to respond appropriately to her representations, thereby denying her the right to appeal.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Ms X’s complaint concerns a PCN issued for an alleged moving traffic offence. She says the Council’s response to her representations was procedurally flawed, in that no Notice of Rejection was issued in response to her representations, thereby denying her the ability to use her right to appeal to London Tribunals.
6. Ms X says the matter forms part of a pattern of aggressive targeting of her with PCNs and amounts to harassment of her as a disabled person. She further complains that the Council has failed to respond to her complaint reasonably.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. The correspondence shows that, since Ms X came to the Ombudsman the Council has accepted her representations and cancelled the PCN. There is therefore insufficient outstanding injustice caused by the Council’s actions to warrant investigation.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient injustice to warrant our intervention.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman