Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice for an alleged parking contravention. It is reasonable to have expected her to have used the statutory representations and appeals procedure.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council wrongly issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for an alleged parking contravention. Mrs X says she paid the PCN and asked the Council to exercise discretion to refund it, but it refused. Mrs X says this was despite telling it about her mitigating circumstances.
2. Mrs X says the matter caused her distress and a financial impact.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes limits on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London, and the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for the rest of England.

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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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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint because it would have been reasonable for Mrs X to have used the representations and appeals procedure before paying the PCN.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman