The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about procedural errors in the Council’s handling of a Penalty Charge Notice. This is because the Council accepted a procedural error had occurred, apologised, and refunded Mr X. An investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the Council’s actions regarding a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) from 2022. Mr X said the Council incorrectly instructed a debt collection agency in March 2025 which led to his car being clamped.
Mr X said the matter caused him distress.
Mr X wanted the Council to refund his 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 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: we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(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
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because, during the Ombudsman’s consideration of the complaint, the Council acknowledged a procedural error led to the matter being referred to a debt collection agency without the proper processes being followed.
In response, the Council apologised to Mr X for the distress caused by the error and refunded his payment. This is the outcome Mr X sought.
An investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome, and so we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman