Statutory Declaration - help with court procedure please?

[Megahertz]

Hi there,

My son fell foul of a process last year. He's only just moved to Liverpool and was travelling to a job interview and had the wrong ticket for his journey. He accepts that he had the wrong ticket, received a penalty fare but was advised to appeal online. To cut a long story short, he didn't receive notice that the appeal had been rejected, but crucially didn't receive any further correspondence from Merseyrail. He lives in an apartment building in Liverpool and was not receiving any post. Eventually, a couple of weeks ago, he was handed a massive pile of post from the building staff, and discovered that this process had gone all the way to magistrates court and he'd been prosecuted. The fine had gone up to more than £400!

We've been in touch with Merseyrail and they've accepted our case and have agreed to an out of court settlement which we have paid. However my son has to make a statutory declaration to the court to state that he was not aware that the case was ongoing. This bit we're ok with.

However, the court also need him to state whether he is guilty or not guilty. This is the bit we are struggling with. If he claims not guilty, then the case will start again, Merseyrail will withdraw their action. But what grounds can he claim to be not guilty? If he claims that he is guilty will he automatically get a crimial record? even though he's reached an 'out of court settlement' with Merseyrail?

We have 3 options - Guilty - want to attend court, Guilty - don't want to attend court, Not guilty.

If he pleads guilty then there is an option to provide mitigating circumstances, but if he pleads not guilty then he has to explain why?

Any advice would be welcome!

 

[Haywain]

A plea of not guilty is simply that. Grounds for such a plea do not have to be given until the case is heard. And in this case it should not be heard.

 

[Western Sunset]

Just wondering why one is able (and encouraged) to appeal online, yet the result isn't sent in an online (email) format.

 

[Megahertz]

Thank you. We’ve pleaded not guilty and hopefully it won’t go any further. And yes you’re right the forms are very difficult to fill in, one was a word document and the other a PDF. It’s possible to add information to them electronically but there is no means to sign them. He’s just typed his name in the box. Otherwise we’ll have to print out the forms, sign them and scan them which seems like a waste of paper.

 

[some bloke]

Hello - a few questions, and points as far as I understand them, from a non-lawyer:

1. How long does he have to do this before the 21 days are up (after he found out about the conviction)? I ask in case this needs more thought/action.

2. Just in case it isn't clear, he can't just type in his name and send the declaration to the court. It has to be made before (ie witnessed by) "a magistrate, a District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts), or a solicitor or Commissioner for Oaths."
https://www.gov.uk/appeal-magistrates-court-decision/if-you-did-not-know-about-your-case
He can call a solicitor to check that they will only charge a few quid for witnessing it. By doing it before a solicitor rather than at a court, he can avoid any confusion about whether the magistrates should start to deal with the case at the same time (and anyway, getting a court date for the declaration before the 21 days are up may be hard/impossible).

3. What was the alleged offence? If the other form is a Single Justice Procedure form, that suggests a bylaw offence which he's guilty of.

4. Did the company cancel the penalty fare before any appeal decision, or alternatively before 21 days expired without a decision? If not and your son had submitted an appeal correctly, the company wasn't allowed to prosecute in the first place - see regulation 11, paragraph 3: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/366/made

5. The declaration form says "You can ask for help at any magistrates’ court office". Court staff might for example advise him to send relevant correspondence with/from the train company or their agent, saying they won't prosecute/accepting the settlement/stating conditions.

 

[87 027]

Is this another case where a penalty fare was appealed but Merseyrail have proceeded to prosecution when they should have been barred from doing so? There are similarities with this thread

Merseyrail prosecution

Hi I travel to work every day on the Merseyrail network and can prove £1000’s spent on purchasing tickets almost daily. One day in November there was a large queue for the train, which were on reduced timetable due to covid. I decided to get on because I needed to get to work & knew based...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[gray1404]

My sentiment, exactly another case where a passenger has logged an appeal. Regardless of whether or not the appeal is successful Merseyrail and then statute barred from prosecuting. So yet another abuse of process in them prosecuting when they have no lawful basis for doing so.

I really hope somebody for Merseyrail is reading this because light is finally being shed on this practice which is now becoming exposed and will now have to be dealt with on mass scale.

 

[island]

Thank you. We’ve pleaded not guilty and hopefully it won’t go any further. And yes you’re right the forms are very difficult to fill in, one was a word document and the other a PDF. It’s possible to add information to them electronically but there is no means to sign them. He’s just typed his name in the box. Otherwise we’ll have to print out the forms, sign them and scan them which seems like a waste of paper.

The statutory declaration form is only valid if it's signed in ink in front of a solicitor or justice of the peace.

 

[Megahertz]

The statutory declaration form is only valid if it's signed in ink in front of a solicitor or justice of the peace.

Thank you, yes the materials are very confusing, the email seems to suggest that an appointment will be made for him to sign in front of a magistrate. But he still had to sign his side of the form before sending it back. Very odd.

 

[some bloke]

Do people think it's better for @Megahertz 's son at this stage to:

- make the declaration before a solicitor and deliver it (with the plea if necessary) to the court before the 21 days are up, and tell the court staff no appointment is needed,

rather than

- make the declaration at court, maybe have to explain a delay and maybe run into other complications?

In almost all cases it is better to have a Solicitor hear your Statutory Declaration: Courts will generally set a time to come in and make the declaration when the relevant prosecutor is in court then look to immediately re-open and hear the case there and then.

For the small fee and the inconvenience of posting recorded delivery, this buys valuable preparation and renegotiation time.

@Megahertz , if you can say

a) whether your son has any evidence of the company cancelling the penalty fare in line with the rules as above,

and if not can post

b) evidence that he did submit an appeal correctly (such as photos/screenshots of any relevant correspondence to/from the appeal panel, with personal/identifying details removed),

people on here may be in a better position to say whether it looks like the company was barred from starting proceedings in the first place.

If your son doesn't know that the company made prosecution lawful by cancelling the penalty fare according to the rules, he can ask them (adding "it has been claimed" or suchlike if desired):

4. Did the company cancel the penalty fare before any appeal decision, or alternatively before 21 days expired without a decision? If not and your son had submitted an appeal correctly, the company wasn't allowed to prosecute in the first place - see regulation 11, paragraph 3: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/366/made

If prosecution was barred, that would seem to mean the settlement you've paid was on the basis of misinformation/a baseless threat.

We might think in that case the company owes your son compensation as well as a refund.