The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council wrongly issued an order for recovery for a penalty charge notice that had already been cancelled. This is because the matter has been resolved and any remaining injustice caused to the complainant is not sufficient to justify our further involvement.
The complaint
Mr X complained the Council wrongly sent him an order for recovery for a penalty charge notice (PCN) that had already been cancelled. Mr X says this has caused him stress, and worry about the impact this might have on his credit rating and his application for UK citizenship.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide any remaining injustice is not sufficient to warrant our further involvement; or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council told me due to an anomaly with its PCN database, Mr X’s case was re-opened and an order for recovery was wrongly issued to him. The Council said when it learned of this, the case was manually closed.
In its response to my enquiries, the Council apologised to Mr X for any inconvenience caused and confirmed that the matter would have no impact on Mr X’s credit rating. The case is closed and the PCN cancelled; this should alleviate the concerns Mr X had about any possible impact this could have on his application for citizenship.
I do not consider therefore that there are grounds for us to investigate this complaint or that we could change the outcome of it if we did.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient remaining injustice caused to him to justify our further involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman