• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Feet on seats situation gone to court summons

Status
Not open for further replies.

WesternLancer

Established Member
Joined
12 Apr 2019
Messages
6,997
The fact that the transcript regarding the valid ticket was blank suggests to me that they had not asked about this and is not the subject of their concern, rather than a ticket wasn't produced. Given that the charges do not mention fare evasion would seem to bear this out, so I am not sure that a Magistrate would infer anything to make 'you look bad on two fronts'.
Yes, could be just blank because it is not applicable - as not pertinent to the matter being charged, as it were, which is about the feet on seats.

@clagmonster
yes the date was back in march & SJPN post first week of December.
silly question but i’m currently a student unemployed & not sure how i go about contacting a solicitor asides student union at my university for advise.


@WesternLancer
i thought the same regarding the ticket part; it felt well escalated in a short time as there isn’t even a record or a choice for me to pay the initial penalty fare of £75.
but yes i’m not disputing my feet on the seat surroundings; it was caught on body cam. could the letter i send prevent it getting to court even though the 21 appeal deadline is gone?
see post #10 by watershed with link on how to find solicitor, but start with student union first and ask them.
sorry I don't know answer ref 21 appeal deadline, but my hunch is what have you got to lose by sending such a letter. It would not make it worse.
 
Last edited:
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

silly sally

Member
Joined
12 Jan 2021
Messages
6
Location
chester
Just to pick up on this point: as @Mojo explained in post #4, the single justice procedure notice (SJPN) is not notification of a punishment, but a requirement that you tell the court how you want the charge to be heard. So just because that notice has been issued, it doesn't mean that things are finalised. But they will be moving towards being finalised pretty quickly - and if you don't engage with the process, I would expect that they will be finalised on the assumptions that (a) you are guilty and (b) that there's no reason why you shouldn't face the heaviest fine.

So my suggestion would be to urgently get in touch with the court: there's probably a phone number on the SJPN, so ring that to find out what happens if you are late replying. If there isn't a phone number, there must be an address (or how else are you going to write back to them?). Try putting this into the 'Find a cort or tribunal' finder at https://courttribunalfinder.service.gov.uk/search/address: if you go into the court details then you should find a phone number.
thank you

Merseyrail are certainly very heavy handed on this, but despite having had the chance to make feet-on-seats an explicit crime in their own Byelaws, they chose not to do so.

Therefore a prosecution could only be brought under Byelaw 6.8, which is identical to the [National Rail] Byelaws:


This gives them a reasonably high bar to prove a crime has been committed - and it is by no means certain that mere feet-on-seats will automatically constitute an offence. Giving a false name and address could constitute a separate crime, of course.

I would advise the OP to speak to a criminal defence solicitor ASAP - even if just for an initial consultation (which will often be free or low cost), to determine which courses of action are possible and advisable.

The Law Society's website has a search tool to find local solicitors by area of practice.
thank you for your input
 

island

Veteran Member
Joined
30 Dec 2010
Messages
15,982
Location
0036
Merseyrail are certainly very heavy handed on this, but despite having had the chance to make feet-on-seats an explicit crime in their own Byelaws, they chose not to do so.

Therefore a prosecution could only be brought under Byelaw 6.8, which is identical to the [National Rail] Byelaws:


This gives them a reasonably high bar to prove a crime has been committed - and it is by no means certain that mere feet-on-seats will automatically constitute an offence. Giving a false name and address could constitute a separate crime, of course.
It is easier if the passenger’s shoes are muddy, at which point it comes under “no person shall soil any part of the railway”.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top