Salford City Council (26 010 170)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Upheld
Decision date : 16 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about how the Council handled two penalty charge notices she received. The Council has already provided a suitable remedy and so further investigation would achieve nothing more.
The complaint
- Miss X complains the Council was wrong to issue her with two penalty charge notices (PCN) for the same offence and should not have progressed her case to enforcement action.
- She wants an apology, a reimbursement of around £50 for costs or compensation and £250 to acknowledge the distress and anxiety she says she was caused.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X received two PCNs for the same period of parking. She paid the first but not the second. When the Council began enforcement action against the outstanding PCN, Miss X submitted a late witness statement to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to challenge this. She also complained to the Council.
- The Council upheld Miss X’s complaint and cancelled the outstanding PCN and enforcement action.
- We will not investigate this case. The Council identified where it had acted with fault and took the steps we would expect to remedy the injustice to Miss X. Any outstanding injustice is not significant enough to warrant the costs of an investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. The Council has already provided a suitable remedy and so further investigation would achieve nothing more.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman