Transport for London (21 004 352)
Category : Transport and highways > Traffic management
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 17 Aug 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice. There is insufficient remaining injustice to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X says Transport for London (TFL) failed to respond to the representations he made about a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) he received whilst driving a hire car.
- Mr X has also said TFL has failed to respond to the complaints he made about its failure to respond.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:
- any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Authority.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says the PCN was issued in the hire company’s name who then gave him permission to contact TFL directly. However, TFL has failed to respond to any correspondence, and he would like compensation for the time and cost of postage.
- TFL says it has now accepted Mr X’s representations, cancelled the PCN and refunded the money paid.
- Mr X has now received the outcome he was looking for which is to have the PCN cancelled. Therefore, there is no significant remaining injustice, and any investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
- In cases where we are not investigating the matters in a complaint, we do not separately investigate the complaint handling process.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient injustice to warrant an investigation.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman