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Council Tax, commital hearing, interesting outcome.
Hello. My wife and I had fairly substantial CT arrears. We moved away from the area, and made sporadic, but reasonable sized payments as best we could afford (£1-200 per month). And one lump sum earlier this year. Eventually, due to ill health, my business folded, and we ceased to make payments, and eventually the matter came to committal
They only summonsed my wife, I suspect, because I have recently had (and won on appeal) a 3 year case with them on a littering charge that I was patently not guilty of, but that’s maybe an interesting story for somebody facing that happy day for another time.
I deliberately left it late, ran a couple of adjournments, and then tried to come to an arrangement to pay the remaining arrears (now less than 1k), for my wife to be told that they were going to try to imprison her outright at the hearing. She has never even visited a courtroom in her life, is my full time carer, and we have a 5 year old epileptic daughter, so it was time to get serious, and researching. The Freeman / birth certificate angle looked fanciful, with little real time to prepare, though its certainly something with merit watching the youtube clips etc.
The validity of the mass word document liability orders, with no seal or wet signature was another angle, but I decided to concentrate on the actual grounds under which magistrates can imprison for this 'offence'
In effect, it is a commercial court. The magistrates don't swear oath, and as the events take place in a hired side room, no security guards (other than normal door staff) are present, no docks or prison vans, it all seemed rather unlikely to me, though was a huge worry for my wife.
We refused to go and discuss the matter with the council's recovery officer, and were made to wait until last, by which point the council's solicitor had appeared. When we entered court, I was specifically ushered to the back of the room (definitely pre-arranged) and my wife offered a chair in front of the magistrates.
As soon as the clerk addressed her, I tried to approach the bench, under the grounds that I was co-billed, jointly liable, and should be able to make representation. I was told to sit down and be quiet, and it was nothing to do with me..
The council laid out the case (relying on the wrong liability order) and claimed that they had had to make 'extensive searches' to find our whereabouts. This was patent rubbish, as I had been in regular e-mail contact with the Council, they had never asked for my new address, and due to the regular contact had never thought to give it to be fair, but a 'blackening exercise' was very evident.
The clerk and the magistrates started asking my wife questions, to which she could offer no sensible answers, as she hadn't dealt with the account, so eventually, I rose again and offered to 'help' the court with any information I could.
After lengthy discussion, they agreed I could approach the bench but only to discuss the financial side of things.
I quickly made, in effect, 3 representations, slightly ploughing through the magistrates slight displeasure. For the case to be 'proven' ahem, and for them to imprison, they needed to get home on the 2 main tests of 1) Will full neglect. As between us we had 44 years experience of paying council tax, that test obviously failed, as that showed that we were not c/t objectors. 2) Culpable. I stated that by use of relevant financial records, we could prove that at no point, had we prioritised any other unsecured debt above paying this outstanding tax. You can pay in order, in front of council tax, rent/mortgage - utility bills, and food. The only flaw was the running of a cheap car, but that was properly explained away by the number of medical appointments I have to attend, in far flung parts, worked out much cheaper than trying to use public transport (which would be impossible for me anyway).
I took issue with the lack of access to legal advice (we were refused access to a duty solicitor on arrival, who I wanted to check a couple of points with) which is clearly a breach of the relevant article under the European Court of Human Rights, and I contended that to imprison my wife under such circumstances would go against Broadhurst V UK (69187/01) and she would be denied due process.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the clerk and the magistrates at this point wanted rid, quickly. The clerk asked if we could make a payment of £5 per week, to show willing, and then suggested to the magistrates that they might want to consider adjourning the case for 3 months, with no formal order made.
So, after wanting immediate custody, they didn't manage that, nor a suspended committal, nor even a payment order. At the next hearing, after paying the £5 per week, I will ask for the remaining balance to be written off, and I fancy I will get that.
So, I suppose the point being, that if somebody else's circumstances are that they have genuinely not been able to pay the due c/t, and can show and prove no undue, or reckless spending, then the magistrates cannot get home on either will full, or culpable neglect, and cannot imprison, and probably cannot make any formal order that the council may ask for.
I hope this might be of some help to somebody, somewhere, someday, and my case notes and applications are written up in very simple English, including ECHR case law, and if anybody feels they may be useful, pm me, and I will forward as e-mail attachments.
# This is just my personal experience, should not be relied upon, and is just a summary of my case#
Thanks!
J
They only summonsed my wife, I suspect, because I have recently had (and won on appeal) a 3 year case with them on a littering charge that I was patently not guilty of, but that’s maybe an interesting story for somebody facing that happy day for another time.
I deliberately left it late, ran a couple of adjournments, and then tried to come to an arrangement to pay the remaining arrears (now less than 1k), for my wife to be told that they were going to try to imprison her outright at the hearing. She has never even visited a courtroom in her life, is my full time carer, and we have a 5 year old epileptic daughter, so it was time to get serious, and researching. The Freeman / birth certificate angle looked fanciful, with little real time to prepare, though its certainly something with merit watching the youtube clips etc.
The validity of the mass word document liability orders, with no seal or wet signature was another angle, but I decided to concentrate on the actual grounds under which magistrates can imprison for this 'offence'
In effect, it is a commercial court. The magistrates don't swear oath, and as the events take place in a hired side room, no security guards (other than normal door staff) are present, no docks or prison vans, it all seemed rather unlikely to me, though was a huge worry for my wife.
We refused to go and discuss the matter with the council's recovery officer, and were made to wait until last, by which point the council's solicitor had appeared. When we entered court, I was specifically ushered to the back of the room (definitely pre-arranged) and my wife offered a chair in front of the magistrates.
As soon as the clerk addressed her, I tried to approach the bench, under the grounds that I was co-billed, jointly liable, and should be able to make representation. I was told to sit down and be quiet, and it was nothing to do with me..
The council laid out the case (relying on the wrong liability order) and claimed that they had had to make 'extensive searches' to find our whereabouts. This was patent rubbish, as I had been in regular e-mail contact with the Council, they had never asked for my new address, and due to the regular contact had never thought to give it to be fair, but a 'blackening exercise' was very evident.
The clerk and the magistrates started asking my wife questions, to which she could offer no sensible answers, as she hadn't dealt with the account, so eventually, I rose again and offered to 'help' the court with any information I could.
After lengthy discussion, they agreed I could approach the bench but only to discuss the financial side of things.
I quickly made, in effect, 3 representations, slightly ploughing through the magistrates slight displeasure. For the case to be 'proven' ahem, and for them to imprison, they needed to get home on the 2 main tests of 1) Will full neglect. As between us we had 44 years experience of paying council tax, that test obviously failed, as that showed that we were not c/t objectors. 2) Culpable. I stated that by use of relevant financial records, we could prove that at no point, had we prioritised any other unsecured debt above paying this outstanding tax. You can pay in order, in front of council tax, rent/mortgage - utility bills, and food. The only flaw was the running of a cheap car, but that was properly explained away by the number of medical appointments I have to attend, in far flung parts, worked out much cheaper than trying to use public transport (which would be impossible for me anyway).
I took issue with the lack of access to legal advice (we were refused access to a duty solicitor on arrival, who I wanted to check a couple of points with) which is clearly a breach of the relevant article under the European Court of Human Rights, and I contended that to imprison my wife under such circumstances would go against Broadhurst V UK (69187/01) and she would be denied due process.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the clerk and the magistrates at this point wanted rid, quickly. The clerk asked if we could make a payment of £5 per week, to show willing, and then suggested to the magistrates that they might want to consider adjourning the case for 3 months, with no formal order made.
So, after wanting immediate custody, they didn't manage that, nor a suspended committal, nor even a payment order. At the next hearing, after paying the £5 per week, I will ask for the remaining balance to be written off, and I fancy I will get that.
So, I suppose the point being, that if somebody else's circumstances are that they have genuinely not been able to pay the due c/t, and can show and prove no undue, or reckless spending, then the magistrates cannot get home on either will full, or culpable neglect, and cannot imprison, and probably cannot make any formal order that the council may ask for.
I hope this might be of some help to somebody, somewhere, someday, and my case notes and applications are written up in very simple English, including ECHR case law, and if anybody feels they may be useful, pm me, and I will forward as e-mail attachments.
# This is just my personal experience, should not be relied upon, and is just a summary of my case#
Thanks!
J
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