Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a penalty fare issued by Transport for London. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about a penalty fare issued by Transport for London (TfL). She says she tapped her debit card at the tram stop and there was no sign her payment was unsuccessful, but TfL has refused to cancel the penalty fare or refund her payment.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something an authority has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Authority.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. TfL issued Miss X the penalty fare in September 2024 but Miss X did not complain to us about it until April 2026.
7. I appreciate Miss X has pursued the matter with both TfL and her bank but TfL’s final response in February 2025 was clear it would not deal with the matter further and her bank provided a similar response in May 2025.
8. Our time limit runs from the date the person complaining first had notice of the matter complained about, and in this case that was the date of the penalty fare. The complaint is therefore some seven months late.
9. We would expect a complainant to exhaust TfL’s appeals process before coming to us, but Miss X had seven months from the date of its final response to complain to us in-time.
10. I have seen no good reasons for the delay in bringing the complaint to us and I will not therefore exercise our discretion to investigate the complaint.
11. It is also unlikely we could achieve any worthwhile outcome for Miss X even if we were to exercise our discretion to investigate. This is because it is not for us to decide if the penalty fare was valid or whether TfL should have cancelled it. It clearly took into account the information provided and explained its reasons for not cancelling the penalty fare. It is therefore unlikely we could say there was any fault by TfL.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is late and there are no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman