The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a penalty charge notice. This is because Miss X has paid the penalty charge notice at the discounted rate of £90 and this amount is not significant enough to warrant investigation.
The complaint
Transport for London (TfL) issued Miss X a penalty charge notice (PCN) for using the Blackwall tunnel without paying the charge. Miss X complains she made representations against the PCN but did not receive a response from TfL.
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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Miss X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
I appreciate Miss X is unhappy about the PCN as she did not intend to use the tunnel without paying the charge but she found out by logging into her account that TfL had rejected her representations and decided to pay the PCN at the discounted rate of £90.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the injustice Miss X claims is not significant enough to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman