The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a Penalty Charge Notice. There is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice to warrant investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). He says the Council increased the PCN despite telling him it was on hold and information about an appeal was poorly printed. Mr X says he has not received a satisfactory response to his queries.
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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
(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
In its complaint response, the Council said it received representations after the Notice to Owner had been served. It said it had reviewed and rejected the PCN and informed Mr X of the outcome and appeal rights. Mr X continued to correspond with the Council and did not ask for clarity on how to appeal.
I appreciate Mr X is unhappy, however there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice in the way the Council handled the PCN. Therefore, I will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman