The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice as Miss X appealed to the independent tribunal and the matter is therefore no longer within our remit.
The complaint
Miss X complained the Council has not considered the mitigating circumstances she provided to it in explanation of why she drove into a bus lane. Miss X wants the Council to cancel the penalty charge notice (PCN) it issued to her.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (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
Miss X has appealed against the PCN to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT). As per paragraph three, as such an appeal has been made, we no longer have the remit to investigate and we cannot do so.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because we no longer have the remit to do so since Miss X appealed to the TPT.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman