Birmingham City Council (26 006 007)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 13 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council did not re-offer the 50% discount to a penalty charge for a parking contravention. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s handling of the enforcement process.
The complaint
- Miss X complains the Council did not re-offer the 50% penalty charge discount after it refused her formal representations, even though she had submitted her representations within the 21 days when the discount is applicable.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We can 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. So, we do not start 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 provided by Miss X and the Council, which included their complaint correspondence and the enforcement documentation.
- the Government’s ‘Statutory guidance for local authorities in England on civil enforcement of parking contraventions’.
- the Council’s webpage about the postal parking PCN enforcement process.
- the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I appreciate it might seem unfair to Miss X, but there is no requirement in the statutory enforcement process to re-offer the 50% discount, even though her formal representations against the postal PCN were submitted within the 21-day discount period.
- As such, there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s handling of the enforcement process, so we will not start an investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman