Statuory declaration train evasion

[Hunter96]

Hi everyone looking for some advice as I am loosing sleep on this and its causing me a huge amount of stress.

2015 I was working In leeds for the council i had been there a week, i stayed at my partners house In barnsley.
i had underestimated how long it would take me to get from his house to the train station. I was running late so I jumped on the train and was going to buy a ticket on the train I was waiting for a ticket officer to come round but they didn't.
I get into leeds train station I'm waiting in the queue before the barriers to get my return ticket.when a lady comes up to me asking for my details which I gave I didnt think anything off it at the time.

Now a week after that I move in with my partner and gave my house up what I was sharing with a friend. Now march 2016 I move back to my hometown over a 100 miles away still unaware of any fine. End of 2016 after having my son I recieved a letter from a debt collection company for £952 I was racking my brain for what it could be I eventually called up and they told me what it was,I had told them I did pay. They eventually passed it to the court I did contact them in 2017 asking what to do they told me to make a statoury declaration. I just left it because I didnt know where to start I struggled to get any advice as the solicitors i called said they didnt deal with train evasion.

Now a few months ago they started deducting the fine from my benefits I have £433 left to pay i have paid just over £100.
I managed to get some bank statements from my old bank showing the date that I did pay. I understand I need to go to my local court and do a statoury declaration would I have a chance? As I missed all letters from northern rail and the courts. I only ever recieved one from marston debt collectors.

[Hertingford]

I believe it’s too late to do a statutory declaration as this has to be within 21 days of discovering you have been convicted and it would appear this was in 2017 if I’ve read your post correctly.

The best thing you can do is talk to Marstons and agree a payment plan in my opinion.

[Hunter96]

Hi it's not with marstons they passed it back to northern rail who went to court.

I never recieved any court letters or anything.

[Hertingford]

Ah ok so just to clarify:

The offence (sounds harsh but that’s what Johnny law calls it) of evading a fare took place in 2015. You hand over your details and that’s it. Were you given a fixed penalty notice and 28 days to pay? If so did you pay anything and how much was it for?

End of 2016 you get a letter from Marstons presumably demanding £950 for a magistrates court judgement you knew nothing about. They send it back to the court.

Presumably you didn’t attend the hearing - did you get a letter explaining the judgement and setting out how much you had to pay?

what would you like to be done now, is it to reduce the monthly payments or dispute the whole case?

[Hunter96]

No nothing she didnt mention it was a fine.
no I'm guessing marstons found my new address but didnt pass it on so all court letters went to my old leeds address.

Dispute the whole case as surely no crime has been committed? I havent gone through the barriers without a ticket.

[Hertingford]

It’s a minefield dealing with any prosecutions brought by the railways - some take action, some don’t, but for for fare evasion most of them still take everyone to court out of a matter of principle even though they make a loss doing so! It’s sort of like a no person gets away with it! Had it been for parking for example they probably wouldn’t have bothered prosecuting as in any case the court keeps whatever fine you get not the railway operator (they just get a cost contribution).

Theres really only two options from this point - you can either appeal but you’d need thousands up front and solicitors willing to take on the case so it’s not really an option.

Realistically you will have to pay this off.

if you are struggling with the amount being deducted from your benefits then you can apply to the Fines Officer at the court which issued the fine. They won’t be interested in whether or not you received letters. You basically write to them and explain why you cannot afford the current payments and propose an amount you can afford weekly. You will need to include a breakdown of your income and expenses.

They will then decide whether or not a magistrate needs to hear you make this request in person but this usually doesn’t happen. You’ll either get a response to your fine request detailing the new payment plan or a summons (nothing to worry about just go and explain to the magistrate) or a rejection. If it’s a rejection you can appeal this and details on how to do this will be included.

The court want you to pay a reasonable amount that you can afford so if you talk to them they can help.

[wales01man]

Can I ask how if the OP had a ticket did the company get there name address etc to be able to start the action ?

[Hertingford]

That’s odd she didn’t give you a FPN. But unfortunately the appeal window has long gone and even so I can completely say hand on heart no magistrate would accept the defence that they were running late and couldn’t buy a ticket but intended to.

The only allowable defence for not buying a ticket before boarding is if the station you boarded did not have working ticket facilities and you can prove this (out of order machine, ticket office closed, etc).

I feel for you that is a lot of money they’ve whacked on all for an innocent mistake!

[Hunter96]

So what will happen if I do a statoury declaration will I be given a hearing?

[Hertingford]

It’ll be rejected on receipt as it’s way past the deadline

[jaguarsuk]

Okay, so you travelled in a Penalty Fare area and that means that you did commit an offence under the railway bye laws. However, the inspector should not have taken your details to report you for the offence and allow you to buy a ticket, Northern can't have their cake and eat it. The Penalty Fare is your ticket or you are allowed to buy a ticket, it's one or the other and can't be both.

You can appeal the conviction and the reason for appeal would be that you bought a ticket therefore no offence was committed, so as such a miscarriage of justice has occurred resulting in you being given a criminal record incorrectly.

You will need to make an application for appeal to the High Court where a judge will decide whether to grant Leave to Appeal Out of Time and if granted you would appeal. The judge will make a decision based on what your proposed defence is and therefore you need to include the bank statements to show you paid the fare, explain the reason you gave the inspector your personal information, that Northern didn't correspond with you about this and you only found out once the fine began being deducted by the DWP. I wouldn't worry about the debt collector part.

The good thing is that railway companies are really rubbish after they have got a conviction at keeping the files, often they dispose of them as job done and so if you are granted leave to appeal they are unlikely to oppose you in court at the appeal.

[Hunter96]

Thank you jaguar that sounds more right, so how do I start the process? I'm finding it very difficult to get anywhere with this.

[jaguarsuk]

Thank you jaguar that sounds more right, so how do I start the process? I'm finding it very difficult to get anywhere with this.

It's not a simple or easy process and given you have mentioned you are in receipt of benefits you should be eligible for legal aid, therefore I would advise you seek a legal aid solicitor and have them do it for you.