Birmingham City Council (26 012 895)
Category : Transport and highways > Traffic management
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Aug 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council’s unlawful towing of X’s vehicle caused personal injury and damage to the vehicle. This is because X has an alternative legal remedy, to pursue a claim of negligence through the courts. Only the courts can decide whether the Council was negligent. It is therefore reasonable to expect them to use their legal remedy.
The complaint
- X complains that the Council towed their vehicle and issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). X says the Council damaged their vehicle and caused them personal injury. X seeks compensation.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
- Negligence claims and interpreting the law around civil liability are generally best decided by a court where the Council does not accept insurance liability.
- 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 there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I will not investigate X’s complaint that the towing of their vehicle caused damage to the vehicle and personal injury. This is because they have an alternative legal remedy through the courts. Only the courts can achieve the outcome they are looking for, so it is reasonable to expect them to use this remedy.
- The Council has since cancelled the PCN. Therefore, there is no worthwhile outcome investigating this element of X’s complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect them to use their legal remedy.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman