The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about Transport for London’s handling of a penalty charge notice. This is because Mr X has applied to the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court to challenge the authority’s escalation of the case.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains Transport for London (TfL) issued correspondence about a penalty charge notice (PCN) for which he is liable to an address he has not lived at for more than eight years.
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 could take the matter to court. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court but cannot investigate if the person has already been to court about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended) The Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) is part of Northampton County Court. It considers applications from local authorities to pursue payment of unpaid PCNs and from motorists to challenge local authorities’ pursuit of unpaid PCNs.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X has applied to the TEC to challenge TfL’s escalation of the case and we cannot look at the same issue the TEC has already considered. If Mr X disagrees with the TEC’s decision he may be able to apply for a review.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman