Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice for an alleged parking contravention. It would be reasonable to expect Mr X to use the statutory representations and appeals procedure.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council wrongly issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for an alleged parking contravention and did not properly consider his representations about it.
2. Mr X also says the Council failed to consider or respond to his complaint.
3. Mr X says the matter caused him distress and financial difficulties.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes limits on what we can investigate.
5. 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. If the person has already appealed, we have no power to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
6. London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London, and the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for the rest of England.
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 from the complainant and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it would be reasonable for him to use the representations and appeals procedure.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman