The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice because Miss X used her right to appeal to a tribunal, and the Council’s recovery action began in court with a charge certificate.
The complaint
Miss X complains the Council wrongly passed her Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) to enforcement agents as she did not receive any correspondence after her appeal. She complains the Council representatives were unprofessional.
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) London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.
We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended) Recovery action for unpaid PCNs begins when a council issues a charge certificate at the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC), part of the county court.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X received a PCN and a Notice to Owner. The Council rejected her representations about it, so Miss X appealed to the tribunal. The tribunal decided the PCN was properly issued and upheld it, dismissing Miss X’s appeal. The Council issued a charge certificate in the TEC which amounts to beginning court action. It passed the debt to enforcement agents as it received no payment.
Although Miss X’s complains about the behaviour of council staff and enforcement agents we could not investigate it separately from the core issues which we cannot investigate as they have been subject to an appeal and court action.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because she has already used her right to appeal to a tribunal and the Council’s recovery of the unpaid PCN started with court action.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman