Summary
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to Mr X’s representations against a penalty charge notice. This is because the Council’s actions did not cause Mr X significant injustice which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council failed to respond to his representations against a penalty charge notice (PCN).
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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says that the Council failed to properly consider his representation when he paid the discounted rate for a moving traffic penalty. He says he wrote three letters to the Council giving reasons why it should withdraw the penalty and received no response.
Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered a serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss of injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
I appreciate Mr X is unhappy the Council did not respond to his representations, but he has paid the PCN at the discounted rate of £35 and this amount is not significant enough to warrant further investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council’s actions did not cause him significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman