Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint that the Council wrongly issued her several penalty charge notices. This is because the Council has cancelled the PCNs and taken steps to ensure it does not issue her anymore. This provides a suitable remedy for the complaint and it is unlikely further investigation would achieve anything more.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains about several penalty charge notices (PCNs) issued by the Council. She says the Council’s civil enforcement officer did not properly check her vehicle as she was displaying a valid permit and claims she has been harassed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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. 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)
4. London Tribunals considers parking and moving traffic offence appeals for London.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Where a person receives a PCN and wishes to challenge it, they may appeal. Council complaints processes are not intended to deal with complaints about PCNs as there is an alternative right of appeal.
8. Miss X has challenged the PCNs with the Council and the Council has agreed to cancel them. It has also updated its records to ensure it does not issue her any further PCNs. But Miss X remains unhappy; she has questioned if she has been targeted due to her race and believes she is entitled to compensation.
9. Issues such as racial discrimination/targeting and harassment are for the police and, ultimately, the courts. We cannot say the Council has harassed Miss X or treated her any differently due to her race.
10. The Council’s cancellation of the PCNs and its action to avoid further issues is a sufficient response to the complaint and we would not recommend anything more. The cancellation of the PCNs is the most the appeals process could achieve and there is no automatic right to compensation. While I appreciate Miss X has experienced some distress from the issue of the PCNs and gone to effort to challenge them, this is not significantly more than would normally be the case where a person disputes a PCN. It would not therefore warrant a financial remedy.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has taken sufficient steps to deal with the issue raised and it is unlikely investigation would achieve anything more for Miss X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman