The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice. This is because Mr Y has used his right to appeal to the Traffic Enforcement Centre so the law says we cannot investigate.
The complaint
Mr Y complains the Authority has issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) to him but has failed to check his address with the DVLA when he did not respond to the initial PCN. Mr Y says if the Authority had done this it would have been aware he had moved house and he would have received the PCN and later correspondence without incurring increasing costs for enforcement.
Mr Y says he has had to pay increased costs including for enforcement.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information Mr Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Authority issued a PCN to Mr Y in 2020, sending it to the address registered with the DVLA. However, Mr Y had recently moved house and although he had registered his new address with the DVLA, the records were not updated before the Authority completed its search for Mr Y’s address. Consequently, the PCN and later correspondence was sent to an address Mr Y no longer lived at. Mr Y was later contacted by bailiffs in late 2020 and he says this is the first point at which he was aware of the PCN. However, as the Authority had instructed bailiffs, the penalty had increased with costs.
Mr Y then submitted an Out of Time Statutory Declaration to the Traffic Enforcement Centre, a part of Northampton County Court in November 2021. Mr Y then contacted us in May 2022.
Analysis The law says that where someone has started court action about a matter, we cannot then investigate a complaint about it. Mr Y has submitted an Out of Time Statutory Declaration to appeal the Charge Certificate which registered the debt for the PCN. This appeal was made to the Traffic Enforcement Centre, which is a part of Northampton County Court. He has therefore started court action about the PCN. Consequently, we cannot now investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because he has used his right to appeal to the Traffic Enforcement Centre so the law says we cannot investigate.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman