The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice. This is because we are satisfied with the actions the Authority has taken.
The complaint
Dr Y complained the Authority issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) to him, which he did not understand the contravention for, but then failed to respond when he wrote to it asking for an explanation and then doubled the penalty.
Dr Y has paid the penalty to stop it from increasing further, costing him £80.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information Dr Y and the Authority and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Authority issued a PCN to Dr Y in June 2022. Dr Y wrote to the Authority asking for an explanation of the contravention in July. The Authority did not then respond before the penalty increased to £80. Dr Y says he was unhappy about this as the Authority’s guidelines said it should respond within 10 days. Dr Y then approached us in October.
Since Dr Y approached us in October, we contacted the Authority to ask about its complaints process. It provided us with a response to Dr Y’s complaint, sent in November. Within the response to Dr Y, the Authority agreed to cancel two PCNs for Dr Y and refund Dr Y to money he had paid. It also apologised for the time taken to resolve the issue.
As this action has remedied any injustice caused to Dr Y, it has put Dr Y back into the position he would have been in had no fault have occurred in the Authority’s dealing with Dr Y’s correspondence. We are therefore satisfied with the actions the Authority has agreed to take and will not investigate the complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Dr Y’s complaint because we are satisfied with the actions the Authority has taken.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman