The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a penalty charge notice issued by the Council. The Council properly responded to Mr X’s challenge and if Mr X was not satisfied with its response it would have been reasonable for him to appeal. Mr X’s main injustice lies in the £30 penalty charge he paid and this is not significant enough to warrant further investigation.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s handling of his challenge to a penalty charge notice (PCN) for a bus lane contravention. He says the Council’s signs are not adequate and the Council failed to properly consider his comments. He believes the Council should refund him and any other motorists who have paid the penalty charge.
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 effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. 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) The Traffic Penalty Tribunal considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for all areas of England outside London.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
There is a set procedure councils must follow when pursuing PCNs for bus lane contraventions. When a council identifies a contravention it will issue a PCN to the owner/registered keeper by post. This will detail the amount of the fine and the motorist’s right of appeal, firstly to the council itself and then to a Tribunal.
The motorist has 28 days from the date of the notice to pay the penalty charge or make representations against it. For the first 14 days after the PCN the motorist may pay at a discounted rate of 50% of the full fine.
Mr X made representations against the PCN but also paid at the discounted rate of £30. The Council considered his comments but found no good reasons to cancel the PCN so it accepted his payment and closed the case. This is what we would expect the Council to do and it is not fault. His payment of £30 is also not significant enough to warrant further investigation.
Had Mr X wished to challenge the Council further on the adequacy of the signage it would have been reasonable for him to withhold payment and appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. This right of appeal applies to any motorist who receives a PCN and the Tribunal is the appropriate body to decide whether the Council has sufficient signs to warn motorists about the existence of the bus lane.
Mr X is also unhappy with the way the Council dealt with his complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has considered Mr X’s challenge to the PCN and if Mr X was not satisfied with its response it would have been reasonable for him to appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. The injustice he claims is not significant enough to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman