London Borough of Redbridge (26 003 759)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate part of Ms X’s complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice for an alleged parking contravention. The complainant has used the statutory representations and appeals procedure. We will not investigate the way the Council issued a parking permit because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
The complaint
- Ms X says the Council issued them with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and did not properly consider their representations for an alleged traffic contravention. Ms X said the Council delayed sending her parking permit which led to the PCN being issued. The Council explained why the parking permit did not arrive until after Ms X’s old permit expired.
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 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. If the person has already appealed we have no power to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
- London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London, and the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for the rest of England.
- We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information from the complainant and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate part of this complaint because the complainant has already used the representations and appeals procedure. We will not investigate the remainder because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman