Birmingham City Council (26 004 763)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about Mr X not receiving a penalty charge notice. This is because he has used his right to apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to take the process to an earlier stage.
The complaint
- The Council issued Mr X a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for not paying the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) charge. Mr X says he did not receive the PCN. The first notice of the matter he received was a charge certificate.
- Mr X says this has caused him stress and worry. He wants the Council to consider the fact he did not receive the PCN and give him opportunity to settle the matter.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- The courts have said that where someone has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, we cannot investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
- The Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) is part of Northampton County Court. It considers applications from local authorities to pursue payment of unpaid PCNs and from motorists to challenge local authorities’ pursuit of unpaid PCNs.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Because Mr X did not receive the original PCN he made a witness statement to the TEC in June 2026 asking it to take the process back to an earlier state. The TEC accepted this application, the Council reissued the PCN and Mr X paid. The matter is now settled.
- As Mr X has sought a remedy for the issue he complains about by proceedings in the County Court, we can not investigate his complaint.
- While Mr X also complains about the Council’s handling of his correspondence about the matter, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has used his right to take the matter to the TEC.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman