Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice. This is because Miss X has used her legal right to appeal so we have no remit to investigate.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about being issued with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).
2. Miss X says the Council failed to properly consider her complaint that the traffic signage was defective. And it delayed responding to her complaint for approximately 87 days, issued a generic debt collection letter instead of a substantive complaint response, and pursued enforcement action while her complaint remained unresolved.
3. Miss X wants the PCN charge reduced, an apology and compensation of £200 for her time and trouble taken to complain.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
6. London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.
7. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by the complainant.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. We will not investigate this complaint. Where someone has used their right of appeal, the Ombudsman has no remit to investigate.
11. Ms X’s complaint arises from the issue and enforcement of a Penalty Charge Notice. However, Ms X used her appeal rights, and the matter was considered by a parking adjudicator, who found in favour of the Council. Following that decision, the PCN remained enforceable.
12. We have also considered the complaint about the Council’s complaint handling. The alleged failures in complaint handling stem directly from Miss X’s challenge to the PCN and her disagreement with the outcome of the appeal process. This does not represent a separate injustice that we could meaningfully investigate in isolation.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because she has used her legal right to appeal. And we will not look at the Council’s handling of her complaint on its own as a separate issue. As we are not investigating the core issue, there is not enough injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman