Merseyrail comitting perjury

[kophead1981]

Hi I boarded a train from Seaforth to Bootle. I didn't have the time to buy a ticket as the train was ready to depart. I know I should of waited for the next train and purchased a ticket. I was in the wrong and I got a £20 fine. A few days later I received a s21 eviction notice(no fault of my own) and as a recovering alcoholic I hit the bottle. So I didn't pay the £20 and received a summons. Now fast forward 3 months I received a summons. The witness statement from the Merseyrail inspector is complete lies. It says I'm 5 foot 9 and I have grey hair and that I boarded Waterloo. I'm 6 foot blond hair and boarded at Seaforth ( how can he get this mixed up). This is perjury he has signed a witness statement thats full of lies. What can I do about this? I'm in ill health as well. I've got kidney diease, moderate enseymphna and suffer from servere anixety also a alcoholic. Please don't judge me about my drinking as yous don't know why I started.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I suspect that's not wilful perjury, but rather that they've mixed your case up with that of someone else. The competence of Merseyrail's prosecutions department (or lack thereof) has been highlighted here before.

You could probably get it dropped on that basis, but likely they would then bring a correct case against you, so it probably isn't worth the effort.

Not sure what the best approach here is, though. I suppose in the context you could write to them apologising and explaining your mental health problems being the reason you omitted to pay the penalty fare though you had intended to do so, and asking if they'll offer you a settlement, which if they do are usually around £100 plus the fare.

 

[skyhigh]

It says I'm 5 foot 9 and I have grey hair and that I boarded Waterloo. I'm 6 foot blond hair and boarded at Seaforth ( how can he get this mixed up). This is perjury he has signed a witness statement thats full of lies.

Perjury requires intent.

If they were deliberately lying to secure a conviction, why would they change the description to one that doesn't match you or a location that wasn't where you travelled?

I suspect they've simply accidentally attached the wrong statement. Are the other details on the summons correct?

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi I boarded a train from Seaforth to Bootle. I didn't have the time to buy a ticket as the train was ready to depart. I know I should of waited for the next train and purchased a ticket. I was in the wrong and I got a £20 fine. A few days later I received a s21 eviction notice(no fault of my own) and as a recovering alcoholic I hit the bottle. So I didn't pay the £20 and received a summons. Now fast forward 3 months I received a summons. The witness statement from the Merseyrail inspector is complete lies. It says I'm 5 foot 9 and I have grey hair and that I boarded Waterloo. I'm 6 foot blond hair and boarded at Seaforth ( how can he get this mixed up). This is perjury he has signed a witness statement thats full of lies. What can I do about this? I'm in ill health as well. I've got kidney diease, moderate enseymphna and suffer from servere anixety also a alcoholic. Please don't judge me about my drinking as yous don't know why I started.

Hi - welcome. Sorry to hear about the problems you have had, but I think you will get good advice on here.

Obv there is a problem in that circs played out such that you missed the chance to pay the £20 and have done with it - and now it will be much harder to get back to that option. But it may be worth an effort to try.

I think going down the avenue of trying to challenge the description given for you probably won't get that far, unless you can maybe afford a solicitor to help you at the court - which aint going to be cheap.

I wonder if it might be better to try and engage with Merseyrail by
- writing to them
- pressing your case, explaining the mitigating factors about your eviction notice and health issues in brief as a reason why you failed to pay the fine
- ask them if they would consider 're-instating the fine' to give you the chance to pay and 'settle the matter without the need for court action'

You could post up your draft to them here for comment if that would help.

Otherwise I guess it ends up in court, you plead guilty, but you may get to pay whatever fine is levied in installments which may make things easier - but it might total up more than if they settle for a sum, even if that settlement is more than the original £20 penalty.

Good luck and do post here if you feel more advice could be of help.

 

[Egg Centric]

What is your risk appetite like? It seems to me that you have a reasonable chance of "getting away with it" but you would need to be prepared to roll the dice and take it to court. You would also need to be reliable enough to turn up in court and be sober enough* to present your case.

The very first thing you need to do though, if you are prepared to roll those dice, is to censor some of that original post - which is why I haven't quoted it. If you want to take them on or even think you *may* want to do so then please do that immediately.

*In your particular circumstances this doesn't mean 0mg in breath or even fit to drive - but you would need to be capable of composing this post, for example.

 

[AlterEgo]

What is your risk appetite like? It seems to me that you have a reasonable chance of "getting away with it" but you would need to be prepared to roll the dice and take it to court. You would also need to be reliable enough to turn up in court and be sober enough* to present your case.

That's a very high risk strategy. I assume this defence rests on the witness statement being incorrect and saying "clearly this isn't me!"

To which I expect the magistrate to ask why Merseyrail have your details and issued you a summons.

What does the OP say to this, under oath?

 

[Egg Centric]

That's a very high risk strategy. I assume this defence rests on the witness statement being incorrect and saying "clearly this isn't me!"

To which I expect the magistrate to ask why Merseyrail have your details and issued you a summons.

What does the OP say to this, under oath?

They don't respond to that question under oath. No such question is put. The duty solicitor points it out and the defendant isn't called as a witness. The discrepancies in description are such that the witness statement cannot be relied upon.

Risk can be defined in several ways; if you define it terms of expectation - i.e. sums of result * probability of said result - then this is a better overall result with a risk of a higher downside if you get unlucky. Hence my caveat about risk appetitie.

 

[AlterEgo]

They don't respond to that question under oath. No such question is put. The duty solicitor points it out and the defendant isn't called as a witness. The discrepancies in description are such that the witness statement cannot be relied upon.

Risk can be defined in several ways; if you define it terms of expectation - i.e. sums of result * probability of said result - then this is a better overall result with a risk of a higher downside if you get unlucky. Hence my caveat about risk appetitie.

So I assume Merseyrail are then made aware they've attached the wrong witness statement to the case file, then what?

 

[Egg Centric]

So I assume Merseyrail are then made aware they've attached the wrong witness statement to the case file, then what?

I'm no solicitor but my understanding of the process would be that

a) If you have to serve a defence in advance at all (I'm not sure for such trivial stuff) it's as simple as "the prosecution is put to proof"
b) On the court day - "prove this person is my client" essentially

 

[Tetchytyke]

You can’t really run ambush defences anymore. The best solution would be to contact Merseyrail and point out the witness statement bears no resemblance to you, and see what they say. If they amend it you can then challenge in Court that they’ve amended their evidence and can’t be trusted. If they drop it they drop it.

I’d say this was lower risk than most, as if you attend Court and get convicted the Bench will consider your financial means in a way they really don’t went SCJP forms get sent back.

 

[Egg Centric]

You can’t really run ambush defences anymore. The best solution would be to contact Merseyrail and point out the witness statement bears no resemblance to you, and see what they say. If they amend it you can then challenge in Court that they’ve amended their evidence and can’t be trusted. If they drop it they drop it.

I’d say this was lower risk than most, as if you attend Court and get convicted the Bench will consider your financial means in a way they really don’t went SCJP forms get sent back.

Again I have no legal training (and apologies if you do!) and OP should definitely not take this as legal advice, but I don't *think* that putting the prosecution to proof is an ambush defence.