The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a penalty charge notice as it is unlikely we will find fault by the Council.
The complaint
Miss X complains the Council enforced a penalty charge notice (PCN) despite she not having known it had not considered representations made against it by the driver of her vehicle at the time. Miss X says this has been stressful and caused her anxiety.
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 or fault causing a significant injustice, 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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council issued a PCN to Miss X after her vehicle stopped on a yellow box junction. Miss X’s vehicle was being driven by a third party at the time, and that person made representations to the Council against the PCN.
In its complaint responses to Miss X, the Council states that it advised that due to data protection, it could only accept representations from the registered keeper and not from the third party. Miss X says the third party did not make her aware of this response and neither did the Council. Miss X is unhappy as the PCN has progressed to the charge certificate stage, and the cost of the PCN has increased.
We will not investigate as there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The PCN sent to Miss X indicated that the person the PCN was issued to, could make representations against it. That the driver of Miss X’s vehicle did not make her aware of the Council’s response to their representations is not the fault of the Council. Nor do I consider it fault that the Council also did not inform Miss X of this, as similarly, it had a duty to the third party under data protection regulations. While I recognise that Miss X is unhappy about the current position, the onus was on her to deal with the matter.
For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is unlikely we will find fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman