The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a parking penalty charge notice as Mrs X had the right to appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal about it.
The complaint
Mrs X complained about: a parking penalty charge noticed (PCN) the Council issued to her. Mrs X says she entered the required information on the machine at the car park to qualify for a period of free parking but was still issued a PCN, the ‘virtual’ system used by the Council which she considers is unfair to motorists as they receive no ticket to show they have used the machine to qualify for free parking and are also unable to determine if there has been any technical fault with the machine, and that the Council’s wording of the PCN, ‘parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid virtual pay and display ticket or voucher or parking clock’, was incorrect for the contravention code used and that a motorist is unable to ‘display’ a virtual ‘ticket’.
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 has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Parliament has provided a statutory appeal process to challenge PCNs culminating in an appeal to independent parking adjudicators, in this case, at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT). By making an appeal, Mrs X would have obtained an expert’s view on her own PCN and the validity of the system used by the Council. We are not another level of appeal, and we cannot determine if the PCN issued to Mrs X was valid or not.
It is reasonable therefore to expect Mrs X to have appealed to the TPT and we will not therefore investigate. That Mrs X decided to pay the PCN does not impact on this decision.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she could have appealed to the TPT, and it is reasonable to expect her to have done so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman