The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice. The Council has already taken court action, and the complainant had a right of appeal at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal which it would be reasonable for him to ask the court to restore if the Council does not resolve the complaint it is currently considering from him.
The complaint
Mr Y says he received a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for contravening the clean air zone which he did not know about.
However, he says when he challenged this, the Council failed to respond and has now sent him a further fine for failing to pay within 28 days.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended) 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 Y and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council has registered the penalty with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC), part of the county court, in order to issue the further fine for failure to pay within 28 days.
The Council says it is considering Mr Y’s complaint through its complaints procedure. If this does not resolve the matter for him, he also has the right to apply to the TEC to make a statutory declaration. The TEC can set the enforcement and charging process back to an earlier stage, including to restore his right to appeal against the PCN to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT), so it would be reasonable for Mr Y to challenge the Council’s action this way.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because it is partly about court action the Council took. Even if the Council does not resolve the complaint it is currently considering, Mr Y had the right to appeal against the PCN at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. It would be reasonable for Mr Y to apply to the TEC to restore his appeal right, but the Ombudsman will not investigate his complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman