Tyne and Wear Metro dispute

[Akeers90]

Last month I received a an arrest warrant on behalf of Nexus saying I had an unpaid metro fine. I chased this up as I was sure this could not be correct as I had not lived in the area for a number of months.
I was passed from department to department in order to sort this out. In the end I have to spend over £60 to get to Sunderland to prove in court that one I did not know of the offence and two the letters that were being sent I did not receive due to relocation from that address.
I was able to prove at Sunderland Magistrates that this offence could not of been committed by me, I had lived in that address but not for some time. The offence was an unpaid fare at Heworth on 11 Oct 2012!!!
While at court I signed a Statutory Declaration stating that i had not received the original documents. I was also able to prove to the courts that I did not commit the offence. The Magistrates were very helpful and told me that it should be dropped by Nexus/DB.
Today I have just received a letter stating that they still want to take me to court over it or pay an out of court settlement.
I personally feel like they are just pushing it as they know they have made the mistakes they are now just looking for money from me.
I am a regular train user and have paid hundreds in fares over the last number of months and feel totally let down now.
Is there any advise someone could give me on how to finally clear this up?

 

[ainsworth74]

I would suggest seeking legal advice in this case I think.

 

[Puffing Devil]

When you appeared in court you did not prove to the court that you had not committed an offence. You gave the reasons why you did not know of the prosecution and made a (statutory) declaration to that effect.

It matters not whether the magistrates on the day believed you. By making the declaration you reset the case back to the start and you can still be prosecuted for the offence, which has happened in this case.

When you attended court it is most likely that no-one from Nexus would have been present to hear your representations. Any information that you gave to the court will not have been passed to Nexus, hence the re-summons at the correct address.

My suggestion is to speak to Nexus and explain what happened at court and give your evidence. See then if you can get the matter dropped. If they do not believe you, you will need to attend court as summonsed. The summons will not be for trial - if you plead not guilty on that date, another date will be set for the trial. However, at the next hearing you may be able to present your evidence to the prosecutor to show that you have a defence and that the matter should be dropped. Ask to speak to them before the matter is called into court.

If that does not work, you will need to go to trial.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I agree with Puffing Devil. There are two "they"s in this, the Court (and its procedures), and Nexus (and its procedures), and so everything that you do in this matter should be communicated to both parties.

The difficulty seems to be quite simple, that you represented yourself when making the Statutory Declaration and so didn't have the experience / knowledge to help you to know what to do after that and how to communicate the information to both of those parties.

Was this in Market Street Magistrates? Can you provide copies of the Statutory Declaration and the Court's confirmation of proceedings when you attended? If so, I might be able to assist further.

 

[142094]

You need to be talking with DB Regio, they are the company that deals with the Penalty Fares and not Nexus. Send any correspondence to South Gosforth Control Centre. Anything sent to Nexus normally gets forwarded on but this takes time and it also not guaranteed to arrive.

 

[34D]

Too late now, but you didn't have to travel to sunderland mags - any local court should have been able to assist.

I would think that any local solicitor can assist by:

-getting the matter dropped
-obtaining you expenses for your journey to Sunderland.

 

[Puffing Devil]

Too late now, but you didn't have to travel to sunderland mags - any local court should have been able to assist.

I would think that any local solicitor can assist by:

-getting the matter dropped
-obtaining you expenses for your journey to Sunderland.

A solicitor may be of use negotiating with Nexus/DB Regio, though it's nothing that the OP can't do for themselves. A solicitor will want to be paid and there is no legal aid available for this matter.

Expenses for the trip to Sunderland cannot be recovered.

 

[cjmillsnun]

A solicitor may be of use negotiating with Nexus/DB Regio, though it's nothing that the OP can't do for themselves. A solicitor will want to be paid and there is no legal aid available for this matter.

Expenses for the trip to Sunderland cannot be recovered.

Why can't they? The person is totally innocent (he didn't even make the alleged journey) and has gone to expense to put that on record. Those expenses should be recoverable.

 

[Puffing Devil]

Why can't they? The person is totally innocent (he didn't even make the alleged journey) and has gone to expense to put that on record. Those expenses should be recoverable.

I'll take this in two steps.

1) Until Akeers90 made the Statutory Declaration he was considered guilty by the court and he had been sentenced. All the declaration has done is reset the case back to the pre-summons stage. He has not proved to the court that he is innocent - he has simply said that he did not know of any proceedings. To prove innocence, or guilt, there needs to be a trial. Any assertions made on internet forums do not constitute a trial. Akeers90 may, or may not, be innocent - that is for a court to decide.

2) The costs of attending the court to make the declaration are not recoverable. Akeers90 was prosecuted, and convicted, at the address he gave at the time. Mail was not forwarded and he did not keep in touch with Nexus/DB to let them know of his new address. That is not the fault of the court or Nexus/DB, unless Akeers90 can show that he wrote to them. If mail was not sent on, he needs to look to Royal Mail for compensation. He could have saved travelling expenses and time by going to a more local court to make the declaration - he would have been given that advice had he posted here first.

Unfortunately a lot of local courts have been closed recently to save money, making people travel a lot further to attend. Unfortunately, the cost of this travel now falls on the court users. Complain to your MP if you're not happy with this. You can vote to pay more tax to keep them open.

 

[cjmillsnun]

I'll take this in two steps.

1) Until Akeers90 made the Statutory Declaration he was considered guilty by the court and he had been sentenced. All the declaration has done is reset the case back to the pre-summons stage. He has not proved to the court that he is innocent - he has simply said that he did not know of any proceedings. To prove innocence, or guilt, there needs to be a trial. Any assertions made on internet forums do not constitute a trial. Akeers90 may, or may not, be innocent - that is for a court to decide.

2) The costs of attending the court to make the declaration are not recoverable. Akeers90 was prosecuted, and convicted, at the address he gave at the time. Mail was not forwarded and he did not keep in touch with Nexus/DB to let them know of his new address. That is not the fault of the court or Nexus/DB, unless Akeers90 can show that he wrote to them. If mail was not sent on, he needs to look to Royal Mail for compensation. He could have saved travelling expenses and time by going to a more local court to make the declaration - he would have been given that advice had he posted here first.

Unfortunately a lot of local courts have been closed recently to save money, making people travel a lot further to attend. Unfortunately, the cost of this travel now falls on the court users. Complain to your MP if you're not happy with this. You can vote to pay more tax to keep them open.

By resetting back to the pre-trial stage, the OP is innocent until proven otherwise.

 

[455driver]

On the letter Nexus sent you are they asking for your version of events or is it a pay up or else type letter, surely if its gone back to square one they should be asking for your version of what happened, ie nothing because you were not there at the time.

Could citizens advice help in situations like this if you take all documentation with you they are pretty good (and free).

 

[Fare-Cop]

By resetting back to the pre-trial stage, the OP is innocent until proven otherwise.

Correct, but so far as the Court is concerned the advice to the prosecuting authority/TOC is only that they 'may issue fresh summons without time constraint' if they wish to do so.

Therefore the TOC can, if they wish, simply issue a fresh summons alleging the original charge, which will be served on the alleged offender at the new address provided to the Court.

If the recipient then provides some evidence to the prosecuting office to show that that he was not the offender it will be up to the TOC to decide whether to accept that evidence and withdraw their charge/s, or to have the evidence tested at trial.

Citizens advice may be able to help, but please remember they are a voluntary service. If representation at Court is ultimately required it will be necessary to engage a professional.

Nonetheless, it may well be that if Nexus are satisfied that the OP has been a victim of an impostor then the case may be discontinued.

 

[falcon]

Looks like the OP has vanished. Again!