London Borough of Croydon (26 012 433)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Aug 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the enforcement of a Penalty Charge Notice. It is reasonable to expect the complainant to apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to seek to regain their appeal rights, and then to appeal to a tribunal.
The complaint
- X says the Council failed to follow the correct procedure for a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and denied them their right to appeal against it. They say the matter has wrongly progressed through the enforcement procedure by the Council issuing a charge certificate.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court or use 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 go to court or appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(6)(a) and (c), as amended)
- London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London, and the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for the rest of England. The Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC), part of the county court, considers applications to set the PCN process back where there has been procedural fault.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information from the complainant and the Council, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- X said the Council was wrong to have issued a PCN and then did not allow them time to provide proof of their claims they were not liable for the PCN, before moving to the enforcement phase.
- Where a person alleges there has been fault in the statutory representations and appeal procedures, we expect them to apply to the TEC, to regain their appeal rights and set the process back to an earlier stage. And given it is only the TEC who can do this, and only the London Tribunals that can say a person is not liable for a PCN, it is reasonable to expect X to use these appeal rights.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint because it is reasonable to expect the complainant to apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to regain their appeal rights and they may then appeal to the London Tribunal if the TEC agrees.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman