The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about three penalty charge notices issued by the Council. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mr X to appeal. In the event Mr X did not receive the Council’s correspondence he may apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre to reinstate his right of appeal.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains about three penalty charge notices (PCNs) the Council has issued. He also complains the Council passed the unpaid PCNs to its enforcement agents (bailiffs) to recover payment from him.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) London Tribunals (previously known as the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service) considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court but cannot investigate if the person has already asked a court to consider the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X suggests he was not responsible for the PCNs and that his car was cloned. But this is a matter for the appeals process and we would have expected him to appeal to London Tribunals at the relevant time.
In the event Mr X did not receive the Council’s correspondence advising him of his appeal right he may apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) at Northampton County Court to take the process back to an earlier stage.
Mr X has already applied to the TEC on one of the three cases and once the unpaid PCNs have been registered with the court he may file applications for the remaining two. If the TEC accepts Mr X’s applications it may reinstate Mr X’s right of appeal, which we would then expect Mr X to use. In the event it refuses his applications he may ask for a review of its decisions.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X had a right of appeal which it would have been reasonable for him to use and he may apply to the TEC to reinstate this right.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman