Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (26 012 466)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 06 Aug 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a Penalty Charge Notice. Mr X has applied to the Traffic Enforcement Centre and so the matter is outside of our jurisdiction.
The complaint
- Mr X complained the Council failed to properly consider his representations about a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). Mr X said the Council also failed to consider his complaint.
- Mr X said the matter caused a financial impact and distress.
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 the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X applied to the TEC to seek to regain his appeal rights against the PCN. This was because he said the Council did not issue a statutory notice of rejection and therefore he did not have a right of appeal to a tribunal.
- As outlined in paragraph four, we cannot investigate where someone has sought a remedy in a court of law. The TEC is part of a county court and therefore we cannot investigate this complaint.
- As we cannot investigate the substantive matters of the complaint, we will not investigate the Council’s handling of the complaint because it is not proportionate to do so.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has applied to the TEC and so the complaint is outside of our jurisdiction.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman