Help: GTR out of court settlement but been convicted

[island]

Please stop suggesting statutory declarations. They are for when a defendant had no awareness of the case. It would be entirely inappropriate for the OP to swear otherwise. The declaration form requires you to fill in the date you ”found out about the case” which is necessarily when the SJP notice was received.

The correct process, as a couple of people have mentioned, would be to request the magistrates’ court to rehear the case in the interests of justice under section 142 of the Magistrates’ Court Act, at which point hopefully GTR will offer no evidence this time and the OP will be acquitted.

A s142 application is made by writing to or otherwise contacting the listings department at your local magistrates’ court and asking for a time and date to make the application. Applications need to be made by appearing (in person or by a solicitor; remote appearance may be possible at the moment under Covid rules) at the court and explaining the matter to the magistrates.

 

[najaB]

Please stop suggesting statutory declarations. They are for when a defendant had no awareness of the case. It would be entirely inappropriate for the OP to swear otherwise. The declaration form requires you to fill in the date you ”found out about the case” which is necessarily when the SJP notice was received.

While I don't disagree with the point you make in your second paragraph, it seems to me that this does fall into a grey area, perhaps one that the Statutory Declaration procedure fails to take into consideration. The OP's cousin was assured several times (including in writing) that, as far as GTR were concerned, the case had been withdrawn and that they should ignore any paperwork that they had received. So it would be a truthful statement that they only became aware that the case was still active when they received notification that they had been prosecuted in absentia.

The key thing, to my mind at least, was the fact that they were told to ignore the SJP and acted in good faith based on that advice, they didn't just ignore it as is often the case.

 

[ukkid]

The best thing at the start is contact the court and the prosecution (which the OPs cousin seems to have done) explaining what happened and showing the court the correspondence from GTR telling them 'case closed, ignore' ( or something to that effect). At that point the procedure to vacate the conviction is put in place (ideally)

 

[island]

While I don't disagree with the point you make in your second paragraph, it seems to me that this does fall into a grey area, perhaps one that the Statutory Declaration procedure fails to take into consideration. The OP's cousin was assured several times (including in writing) that, as far as GTR were concerned, the case had been withdrawn and that they should ignore any paperwork that they had received. So it would be a truthful statement that they only became aware that the case was still active when they received notification that they had been prosecuted in absentia.

The key thing, to my mind at least, was the fact that they were told to ignore the SJP and acted in good faith based on that advice, they didn't just ignore it as is often the case.

It is arguable that this falls into a lacuna in the process, but the statutory declaration, which is a fixed form, requires that you swear to the date you first became aware of the proceedings. It does not facilitate the OP’s circumstances or have a box for “I was aware of the case but I was told it was withdrawn”.

 

[Lica]

Update

Cousin have been sent an email that his case is withdrawn and fine is cancelled by court .
How and where we can check officially if the conviction is set aside?
Thank you .

 

[clagmonster]

Was the email sent by GTR or the court? Either way, I would be sending a copy of the email to the other party to ensure that they are aware.

 

[island]

I would be writing a physical letter to the court asking for confirmation. This is too important a matter to be left to email.

 

[Class360/1]

also, GTR can't fine your cousing for sitting in first class, because it is declassified (on some routes and if it is on thameslink)

 

[Hadders]

also, GTR can't fine your cousing for sitting in first class, because it is declassified

This isn’t quite correct. The rear first class compartment on class 700 Thameslink branded trains is always declassified. The front first class compartment is sometimes declassified as well depending on the route.

GTR operate Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express branded trains as well and 1st class is not normally declassified on these services.

 

[MrJeeves]

GTR operate Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express branded trains as well and 1st class is not normally declassified on these services.

Basically never.

One weird exception seemed to be the GX coaches on Southern's coastway routes. I got on one of these and stood in the same area as the guard was, only noticing at my end stop that it was all first class (was on my phone the whole time).

The guard knew I was there as we'd had a brief interaction when I decided to stand exactly where he needed to get to, but didn't seem to mind.

I'm not sure if first is declassified on these, assumed I had a first class ticket (and opted to stand?), or whether he just didn't mind bearing in mind how empty the train was.