The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice he received for an alleged bus lane contravention. This is because it is reasonable for him to put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
The complaint
Mr B complains the Council did not give proper consideration to his representations in response to a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for an alleged bus lane contravention.
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) The Traffic Penalty Tribunal considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for all areas of England outside London.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr B.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We would normally expect a motorist to challenge a PCN by putting in representations to the local authority. If the motorist is not satisfied with the authority’s consideration of their representations, they may put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (for authorities outside London).
This is the process set out in law for a motorist to challenge a PCN and we generally expect it to be used. I find it is reasonable to expect Mr B to put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and he intends to do this.
So, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because it is reasonable for him to put in an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman