Summary: We ended the investigation because Mr X has used his appeal rights to cancel a penalty charge notice and he can apply to court to obtain the refund ordered by the Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council:
1. Unlawfully removed his car and charged him £265 during roadworks.
2. Did not properly notify him of the road works
3. Did not refund him the fees despite a decision from the London Tribunals Environment and Traffic Adjudicators (the Tribunal)
4. Did not fully deal with his complaint about failing to refund the PCN and fees.
2. This caused a financial loss and avoidable distress and inconvenience.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended). The Environment and Traffic Adjudicators is a tribunal deciding appeals about Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) issued by London councils and Transport for London. We refer to it as the Tribunal in this statement.
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
5. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended). Our guidance says we will be less likely to investigate a complaint where most of the complaint is about matters we cannot investigate and only marginal or smaller issues remain. For example, we will not usually investigate a failure in complaint handling if the substantive issue is not one we can consider.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the complaint to us, the Council’s responses and documents from Mr X referred to in the next section of this statement. I discussed the complaint with Mr X.
7. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contravention (England) Representations and Appeals Regulations (2007)

8. Where an enforcement authority (a council) has removed and impounded an illegally parked car and the owner has paid a fee to recover the car, the person has a right to make representations to the council and to appeal to the Tribunal if his representations are not accepted. Regulation 11(1) and 11(4); Regulation 12(2)(b) and 13(1.)
9. If the Tribunal directs the council to refund a sum, the council has a duty to comply with the direction. (Regulation 13(3) and (4))
10. If the council does not comply with the Tribunal’s direction, the motorist can apply to the county court for an order to recover the money. (Regulation 15)

What happened

11. Mr X parked his car in a bay in a controlled parking zone. The Council issued a PCN as it was carrying out road resurfacing and towed Mr X’s car to the pound. To get the car released, he paid £265 (for the PCN and fees.)
12. Mr X appealed to the Tribunal and complained to the Council. The Council’s stage one response said there was a statutory procedure to challenge PCNs and they could not be dealt with through the complaints procedure.
13. Mr X won his appeal. The adjudicator noted Mr X’s case was the signs suspending the bay were not clear. The adjudicator concluded the Council had not proved there was a parking prohibition in force. And the suspension or order were not clearly or correctly indicated. They directed the Council to cancel the PCN and refund all his money.
14. Mr X escalated his complaint to stage two and asked the Council to add the failure to issue a refund as ordered by the Tribunal. He also contacted the Council’s parking service directly and asked for a refund. The Council did not uphold his complaint and to date has not refunded Mr X. So he complained to us.

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Final decision

15. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. We cannot investigate complaints (a) and (b) because Mr X has appealed to the Tribunal. I ended my investigation of the other complaints because:
• For complaint (c) Mr X can apply to the county court to enforce the Tribunal’s direction as I have set out in paragraph ten and it is reasonable to expect him to do so. He is capable of using legal processes and has successfully done so to challenge the PCN. The county court process is not complex or costly.
• Complaint (d) is a minor issue about complaint handling and I am not investigating the other issues.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman