The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to revoke Mrs X’s clean air zone exemption certificate. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
The complaint
Mrs X complained the Council revoked her clean air zone exemption certificate without notifying her.
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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council granted Mrs X a clean air exemption certificate in 2022. In 2025, she received several penalty charge notices, and it became apparent the Council had revoked the certificate.
Mrs X complained and the Council told her it revoked the certificate after the business the vehicle was registered to went into liquidation. The Council emailed Mrs X at the account associated with the business to let her know it was cancelling the certificate after carrying out a review and finding that the ownership details had changed. Mrs X was unhappy as she did not have access to that email account, but the Council told her it was her responsibility to regularly update her contact details.
Mrs X remains unhappy with the situation and the penalty charge notices she has received. The policy outlining the terms of the clean air exemption certificate informs users that the certificate is reviewed regularly and that the certificate can be revoked due to failure to keep contact details up to date. The Council has not acted with fault in revoking the certificate. It is up to Mrs X to appeal the penalty charge tickets at the traffic penalty tribunal if she wishes to contest them.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman