Royal Borough of Greenwich

The Ombudsman's final decision

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council has wrongly issued his business a Fixed Penalty Notice. This is because Mr X can use his right to raise a defence against the issuing of the Notice in the magistrates court if he considers it was wrongly issued.

The complaint

Mr X complains the Council wrongly issued his business a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for littering. Mr X says he did not commit the alleged offence. He asked the Council to cancel the FPN but it refused.

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) We have the power to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

How I considered this complaint

I considered information provided by the complainant.

I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

My assessment

Mr X says the Council has wrongly issued his business a FPN for an alleged littering offence. He says the alleged offence was not committed by his business and the Council has no evidence to support the issuing of the FPN. Mr X asked the Council to cancel the FPN. The Council refused, saying it was satisfied it was correctly issued.

We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because Mr X can raise a defence against the issuing of the FPN in the magistrates court if he believes it was incorrectly issued and wishes to challenge it. That is the appropriate route to use to challenge the FPN.

We are not an appeal body. We cannot decide whether the alleged offence was committed nor whether Mr X’s business is liable to pay the FPN. We also cannot cancel a FPN. These are issues the court would consider, decide and rule on. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to use, or have used, his right to defend the matter in the magistrates court.

Final decision

We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he can use his right to raise a defence against the issuing of the FPN in court if he considers it was wrongly issued.

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman