The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice for an alleged moving traffic contravention. This is because Mr B put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
The complaint
Mr B complains about a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) he received from the Council for an alleged moving traffic contravention. Mr B says the notice did not make it clear that if the Council rejected his representations he would lose the opportunity to pay the PCN at the discounted rate.
Mr B also complains that when he put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, the Adjudicator wrongly dismissed his appeal.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended) The Traffic Penalty Tribunal considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for all areas of England outside London.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr B.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr B put in an appeal against this PCN to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. The Adjudicator considered the issue Mr B complains about and decided the Council was entitled to enforce the full penalty charge.
This means the restriction to our powers set out at paragraph 4 of this statement applies to Mr B’s complaint. We do not have the power to investigate this complaint and have no discretion to start an investigation.
Also, we do not have the power to investigate a complaint about an appeal decision by a Traffic Penalty Tribunal Adjudicator.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint because he appealed to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman