The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about payment of the congestion charge. This is because the matter did not cause him significant injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains he had to pay the congestion charge when he may not have needed to because Transport for London (TfL) could not tell him if he had driven within the congestion charge zone during chargeable hours. He believes he may have paid the charge unnecessarily.
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 Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
When a motorist drives a vehicle in the congestion charge zone within chargeable hours they must pay the congestion charge. This is currently £15 per day if paid on the day or £17.50 if paid by midnight on the third day after driving in the zone. Charging hours are 7am-6pm Monday-Friday and 12-6pm on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays.
Mr X says he entered the congestion charge zone at around 10:30am on a Saturday and left at around 12 noon. He did not know the actual time he entered and left the zone and expected TfL to advise him on whether he needed to pay. But TfL’s records do not work this way and it has told him it cannot therefore tell him if he needs to pay. Mr X’s options were therefore to pay the congestion charge for peace of mind or to withhold payment and wait to see if TfL issued him a penalty charge notice (PCN).
Mr X decided to pay the congestion charge but he wants TfL to check if this was necessary and to refund him if it was not.
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.
TfL is under no obligation to check for Mr X to tell him whether he had to pay, or refund him if he paid unnecessarily. The amount of the injustice Mr X claims is less than £20 and this is not significant enough to warrant investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the injustice Mr X claims is not significant enough to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman