The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr C’s complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice he received for an alleged parking contravention. This is because it was reasonable for Mr C to put in an appeal to London Tribunals.
The complaint
Mr C complains the Council issued him with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for an alleged parking contravention. Mr C says this was a genuine mistake made by his customer who applied for a parking permit but did not enter his vehicle registration correctly. Mr C says the Council should have noticed this error and was wrong to issue this PCN, which he had to pay to cancel.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
The Act says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended) London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr C.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
A motorist may choose to pay a PCN to cancel it or follow the process set out in law to challenge it. This involves the motorist making representations to the local authority which issued the PCN. If the authority rejects these representations the motorist may put in an appeal to London Tribunals (for local authorities in London).
We generally expect this process to be used. The Tribunal is independent and in the best position to decide whether a PCN was correctly issued.
Rather than pay this PCN, Mr C could have used this process to challenge this PCN. I find it was reasonable for Mr C to do this. So, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr C’s complaint because it was reasonable for him to put in an appeal to London Tribunals.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman