The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the enforcement of a penalty charge notice as the Council has cancelled it.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council did not put a penalty charge notice (PCN) on hold in order to allow him to make a Freedom of Information request and then submit an appeal. Instead, Mr X complains the Council escalated the PCN and sent him a charge certificate. Mr X says this caused him significant stress and financial uncertainty.
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 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
The Council has told me it has cancelled the PCN as a gesture of goodwill. We cannot add to this nor achieve any further meaningful outcome and so we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the PCN has been cancelled.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman