The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the issue of a congestion charge penalty. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the authority issuing him with a congestion charge penalty in July 2021. He says he was unable to apply for residents’ exemption because of the COVID-19 lockdown period and should not have to pay the penalty.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(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 says he moved into the congestion zone 1 area in 2019 but was unable to apply for a resident’s exemption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In July 2021 he received a penalty for driving in the zone without paying and without and exemption. He applied for an exemption shortly afterwards but the Council told him that the penalty was valid and must be paid.
Mr X told the authority that he had been unable to obtain a resident’s permit due to the pandemic lockdown. Mr X moved to the area in 2019 and the congestion charge exemption for residents was not brought into force until August 2020. He received a penalty in 2021 when the suspension had been lifted so he had considerable time before and after the lockdown to obtain a permit.
The authority advised Mr X of his rights to appeal the penalty to the London tribunals but he paid the penalty and the matter was closed. When considering complaints, we may not question the merits of the decision the Council has made or offer any opinion on whether or not we agree with the judgment of the Councils’ officers or members. This means we will not intervene in disagreements about the merits of decisions.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the issue of a congestion charge penalty. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman