London Borough of Islington (25 026 111)
Category : Transport and highways > Traffic management
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 12 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to correctly respond to Mr X’s complaint. We do not consider Mr X has suffered a significant personal injustice with warrants an investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X received and successfully appealed against a penalty charge notice (PCN). He then asked the Council to confirm whether it has checked the traffic cameras on a specific road junction following the introduction of new traffic restrictions. He says it would not accept his complaint because he mentioned that he had received a PCN.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council provided figures to Mr X in response to a request for information. The figures showed the number of PCNs issued by the Council after the new traffic restrictions were introduced increased to more than the number issued before the implementation of the new restrictions.
- He says if the Council has not checked the traffic cameras, it should refund all those who received PCNs after the new restrictions were introduced.
- Mr X successfully appealed against the PCN he received therefore we do not consider he suffered a significant personal injustice on this matter. Also, we do not consider it is a good use of public funds to investigate complaints about the complaint procedure alone.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we do not consider that he has suffered a significant personal injustice which warrants an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman