Train fine magistrates court

[FoxFoxSierra]

I should start this by saying my stbxh is an idiot and I don't entirely trust what he is telling me.

Yesterday a letter came from the magistrate's court, it was a fine and collection order for stbxh for failing to show a valid train ticket. He said it's from December, he was running late and the train was at the station when he got there so he ran and got on and intended to find a conductor and buy a ticket on the train (he's done this before and it's never been a problem). Only this time there was no conductor so he waited until he got off the train and went up to someone at the station to try to buy a ticket. He said this person was a fraud officer and he sold him the ticket and issued a penalty notice which he advised him to appeal. Stbxh said he appealed 3 days later and sent a photo of the ticket and has heard nothing since.

The fine is £370 and he has 10 days to pay! Does anyone know if there's a way to appeal it at this stage? It's obviously been heard in the magistrate's court in his absence and there are court fees included in this amount, he swears blind that he has heard nothing about this since he sent his appeal. I have found lots of information online on appealing fines but it has obviously gone way past that now. Is there a way of going back to the court and telling them that he had no opportunity to defend this?

Hopeful bump! I forgot to add that the cost of the train fare has been added to the fine despite the fact that he bought a ticket and sent evidence of it in his appeal. This suggests to me that they did not even look at the appeal before proceeding through court

Bump

If he has been fined in his absence that means the train company took it to court as a prosecution. He would have been sent a court notice or summons in advance so that he would have an opportunity to defend the allegations at that stage. If he didn't respond to the summons then the court hears only the prosecution side and imposes a default penalty. If he didn't receive the summons or notice for some reason then he can ring the court and arrange to sign a statutory declaration of ignorance of the proceedings. This has to be truthful though. If it's not truthful he could go to prison for perjury. Signing a declaration causes the case to be reheard and cancels the original penalty. There is a 21 day time limit for this step so need to be quick. I guess it comes down to whether you believe him if you want to send him down this road.

Fines are based on income so if the fine was based on a higher income than he earns he can ask the court to review it. It would have been cheaper to pay the penalty notice. If he had attended court with evidence of his appeal the situation might have been resolved with the prosecutor.

The advice you have given is spot on. Has he moved address/been out of the country or anything that would prevent him collecting his mail? If he got the letter with the fine etc that would suggest that he has had access to his mail and that he has just been ignoring summons.

He can go to court and make a statutory declaration saying he had no idea about the proceedings/didn’t receive the paperwork but as HonestLawyer said, he will be under oath and must be truthful about it. He will be asked why he didn’t get all the previous paperwork about the proceedings/didn’t turn up. Just not wanting to deal with it is not a reason!

That's so helpful thank you! He says (again he is a compulsive liar so I'm taking it with a pinch of salt) that he gave his details etc but he was not given an opportunity to pay a lower amount. The fine itself is 220 and the rest is court fees and the actual train ticket. The actual fare is only £12 so it seems disproportionate to me? He still lives with me which is another long story, I get home before him so I see all the post before he does and I have not seen anything from the rail company or court so I do believe him that he didn't receive a summons. We haven't moved house or anything like that so I don't know why he wouldn't have received it but he has previously run up and hidden debt so I am quite anxious with checking the post and I definitely would have noticed something like that.

If he goes back to the court could he end up paying 2 lots of court fees? Does he have a leg to stand on defence wise? I am so angry with him about this and I can't wait for him to move out but in the meantime these things affect me too and as much as he will promise to sort it out it will be me paying so if there is a way of lowering the cost I would like to do that

This isn't your problem because you can't be held liable for any fines that your stbx gets. The court will pursue him and not you. There is no power to make a partner pay a fine. So if you want to help him anyway it comes down to whether he really did receive a court notice or summons. If he didnt then he can make a statutory declaration. If he did then he will have to live with the consequences of ignoring it. If he gets in touch with the court and gives evidence of his income they may be willing to review the level of fine. Yes the penalty is disproportionate because it's a default sum for people who don't respond. There are no court fees though. Apart from the fine the balance will mostly be prosecution costs. I stress again though that you can't be liable for this.

Sounds like he was given a penalty fare, he has 21 days to pay or appeal online/by post.

It sounds like he hasn't paid it, the prosecutions dept then write to the address given, and up the charges with fees, only then it will be taken to court- it takes a lot of time to preparea case for court.

The person he dealt with was probably a revenue protection inspector. It does sound like it has been ignored rather than payment as it's thelower end of a fine. It doesn't affect you in any way, it is down solely to the person named on the paperwork.

www.gwr.com/plan-journey/tickets-railcards-and-season-tickets/revenue-protection-policy has a good overview of the penalty fare scheme and how it works. It is fairly generic to all train operators.

According to him he did appeal online 3 days after and he has a reference number from that and then the next thing that happened was this collection order from the magistrate's court. I believe him that no other letters came but I think he is probably lying about not being given a chance to pay a smaller amount at the time. I have seen the letter myself and there are court fees in addition to the fine.

I know it is nothing to do with me legally and they can't pursue me for his debt but when he pays this there will be another bill he will not be able to pay so one way or another I will need to find the money iyswim? If he ignores it it will be me having to deal with bailiffs etc as I am home more than he is and the thought of it makes me so anxious! He is not the most reliable person (hence he is stbx) so I would rather take charge myself and know that it is sorted.

Thanks again for the advice!

It sound like a band A fine which is 50% of relevant weekly income. If the defendant is absent this is assumed to be £440. If your ex's income is lower than that then the court may review the fine if he contacts the court and attends and completes a means form.

Let him sort it out himself and DO NOT pay it for him.

Thanks Coronapop, he does earn less than 440 per week so it sounds like it will be worth challenging this. Isleeping that would be lovely but if he is £370 down this month then he will not have enough to pay either his half of the rent, the council tax or his train fare to work, the first 2 are joint accounts so they will affect my credit rating and I can legally be pursued for the debt. If he can't pay his train fare he won't be able to go to work so next month there will be something he can't pay that I will be jointly liable for. It will either be that or he will ignore it and they will appoint bailiffs which will cost more and they will come to my house harassing me while he is at work. It is so easy to say don't get involved but in reality as the only functional adult in the house I will have to deal with this for him now or at a later stage when it has got much worse. He is moving out soon and I can't wait!