The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s issue of a penalty charge notice. This is because she paid the penalty charge at the discounted rate of £35 and this amount is not significant enough to warrant investigation.
The complaint
The complainant, Mrs X, complains about a penalty charge notice (PCN) she received from the Council. She says her reasons for challenging the PCN did not provide valid grounds to appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and she wants the Council to refund her £35 penalty charge payment.
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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
I understand Mrs X is unhappy that she had to pay the £35 penalty charge but this amount is not significant enough to warrant investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s actions did not cause Mrs X significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman