Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice issued by the Council. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mr X to appeal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about a penalty charge notice (PCN) issued by the Council. He parked while displaying his blue badge but says the accompanying clock is not precise enough for the Council to strictly enforce overstaying. The Council says the blue badge clock showed 9am and it issued a PCN three hours and six minutes later, which was six minutes after the expiry of the permitted parking period. But Mr X says the clock cannot be set or read to the exact minute and believes the Council’s actions are unfair. Mr X informally challenged the PCN but the Council refused his challenge. He then paid the PCN to avoid any increase in the amount of the penalty charge.

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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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. The law says 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
5. London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. There is a set procedure councils must follow when pursuing PCNs for parking contraventions and handling appeals against them. When a council issues a PCN the motorist has 28 days to pay the penalty charge or appeal; appeals at this stage are known as ‘informal challenges’. For the first 14 days after issue the motorist may pay the PCN at a discounted rate of 50% of the full penalty charge.
8. If the motorist submits an informal challenge to a PCN and the Council decides not to accept it, it will write to the motorist and explain why. Councils will normally re-offer the discounted rate for the first 14 days after the rejection.
9. If the motorist accepts the Council’s reasons they may pay the PCN; if not, they may wait for a ‘notice to owner’. This provides a further opportunity for the owner of the vehicle to pay the charge or make ‘formal representations’ against the PCN. If the council rejects the motorist’s formal representations the motorist may appeal to London Tribunals.
10. Mr X believes the Council should not have issued the PCN and that its refusal to cancel it is unfair. In these circumstances it would have been reasonable for him to wait for the next stage of the process and exercise his right of appeal against the PCN.
11. Mr X did not do this and instead paid the PCN at the discounted rate following the Council’s rejection. He says this is because he could not afford for the amount of the penalty charge to increase. But this is not a good reason to exercise our discretion to investigate because it is part of the statutory process and as such, applies to all motorists. I have also seen nothing to show any evidence of fault in the issue of the PCN and it is therefore unlikely we could say the Council should cancel it.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mr X to make representations to the Council and appeal to London Tribunals.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman