The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a penalty charge notice. This is because Mr X has used his right of appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of a penalty charge notice (PCN). He says the Council changed its reasons for pursuing the PCN and despite him winning his appeal, the Council says it will not change its interpretation of blue badge guidance for future cases.
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 law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right but cannot investigate if they have already used it. (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 X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Because Mr X has used his right of appeal the exclusion set out at Paragraph 3 applies. We cannot therefore investigate any complaint about the PCN or the way the Council dealt with Mr X’s representations and appeal against it.
I appreciate Mr X is concerned the Council has misinterpreted guidance and wrongly issued PCNs but Mr X was affected by this only as a result of the PCN. We cannot therefore investigate, or provide a remedy for it, as set out above.
If anyone else is affected by this issue in the future they may appeal as Mr X has. Decisions made by the Tribunal do not create a precedent so the Tribunal will consider the individual facts of the case to decide whether the PCN should be cancelled.
Final decision
We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X has used his right of appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman