Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Penalty Charge Notices. This is because it is reasonable to expect Mr Y to appeal to the London Tribunals.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains the Authority has issued nine Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) to him for entering the Authority’s congestion charge zone without making payment. He says he was unable to make payment after having difficulties changing his details on his online account since changing his vehicle registration number.
2. Mr Y says he is struggling already with financial difficulties and cannot pay the amount he is owed and feels the Authority should have helped him further with the problems he experienced with the online account. He says the situation is causing him distress and worry.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. London Tribunals (previously known as the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service) considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information Mr y and the authority provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr Y changed his vehicle registration number in January 2022. He says he previously had used an online congestion charge account with autopay. He says he logged onto the account to change his vehicle details but was unable to make the necessary changes. He then received two letters with PCNs attached for driving in the Authority’s congestion charge zone without making payment.
7. Mr Y says he contacted the Authority about the two PCNs, but was then told that he had incurred a total of nine PCNs for non-payment for entering the congestion zone. Mr Y complained about this at the end of January. He also appealed the PCNs with the Authority. The Authority wrote to Mr Y in February, asking for evidence of the problems he had experienced with the online account. Mr Y then contacted us in February.
8. The Authority wrote to Mr Y at the start of March 2022, explaining it had not received any evidence from Mr Y to show the difficulties he had experienced. It therefore rejected to his appeal based on the information it had available. It also gave Mr Y information about how to appeal the PCNs at the London Tribunals.

Analysis

9. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal.
10. While there are nine PCNs, Mr Y has a right to appeal each of these PCNs individually at the London Tribunals. His appeal would then be a matter for the appeals process to decide upon.
11. The London Tribunals is usually free initially, so while Mr Y may be experiencing financial difficulty, we would still consider it reasonable for him to use his right of appeal.
12. Consequently, as Mr Y has not provided any other reason why he cannot, it is reasonable to expect Mr Y to use his right to appeal. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to appeal to the London Tribunals.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman