Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the issuing and enforcement of two Penalty Charge Notices. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to use the statutory procedure and apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to seek to regain his appeal rights, and then to appeal to a tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council failed to follow the correct procedure for two Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) which denied him his right to appeal against them. He says the matter has wrongly progressed through the enforcement procedure and he is now being pursued by enforcement agents. He also says the Council has ignored his complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes limits on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London. The Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC), part of the county court, considers applications to set the PCN process back where there has been procedural fault.
5. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information from the complainant, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. We will not investigate the decision to issue the PCNs. If Mr X wants to challenge the PCNs, it is reasonable for him to use the statutory appeals procedure.
8. We will also not investigate the Council’s complaints handling. The Council’s complaints policy states that complaints about PCNs are excluded from its policy because there is a separate procedure to challenge these. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s decision to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint because it is reasonable to expect Mr X to use the statutory procedure to apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to regain the appeal rights, and he may then appeal if the TEC agrees.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman