The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice. Mr X appealed against the notice to the parking tribunal and as such, the matter is no longer within our remit.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the circumstances of him being issued with a parking penalty charge notice (PCN). Mr X wants the PCN to be cancelled and to be provided details of what action has been taken in respect of the conduct of the civil enforcement officer at the time.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended) The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X appealed against the PCN to London Tribunals but his appeal was not upheld. As per paragraph two, we no longer have any remit to investigate a complaint about the PCN.
Mr X complained to the Council about the action of the enforcement officer that issued the PCN. The Council has looked into this, acknowledged there was an issue and confirmed training will be given. It has told Mr X it can provide no further detail about this.
We cannot add to this. We have no role to become involved in matters relating to individual staff members at the Council and we cannot provide Mr X with information relating to what action the Council took in respect of that staff member as this information is private.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the PCN due to him having appealed against it to a tribunal. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his complaint about staff conduct. This is because we cannot add to what the Council has said or achieve the outcome Mr X seeks.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman