Please help - thameslink single justice procedure notice prosecution

A brief description of my predicament:

On March 5 I was visiting home from uni and bought a ticket that required a railcard instead of a normal one by accident.

A ticket is inspector got on the train, I lied saying my mum had a railcard, and bought it for me: to which she responded that I should give my address and I’d receive a letter to provide evidence of a rail card OR pay a fine of £20, I couldn’t pay because the card on me had no money on it.

And so gave my university address as she said I’d receive the letter within a week, I received no such letter between that date 5 March and the end of my university tenancy (15 June).


Luckily, I’m moving into the the same university address this week and my flat mate who arrived ahead of me opened my letter and sent it to me, the letter is a ‘Single justice procedure notice’ sent on 17/07/19 and was given 21 days to reply but I had no idea of this letters existence because I haven’t been there all summer, the 21 days have past. What do I do? What does this mean? I’ve tried calling but I don’t have a reference number, the court is closed for the weekend so I can’t call. I don’t have the letter in my possession and I won’t for Atleast for another week, what should I do.

I’m panicking and urgently need advices

Email TL (google for the email address) and explain what you’ve said here.
No need to fret - it’s not an unreasonable thing to happen, and go from there when they reply.

Class43 said:

Email TL (google for the email address) and explain what you’ve said here.
No need to fret - it’s not an unreasonable thing to happen, and go from there when they reply.

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Poor advice. I would contact the court initially.

221129 said:

Poor advice. I would contact the court initially.

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Agreed. Call the court ASAP.

Yays37 said:

A brief description of my predicament:

On March 5 I was visiting home from uni and bought a ticket that required a railcard instead of a normal one by accident.

A ticket is inspector got on the train, I lied saying my mum had a railcard, and bought it for me: to which she responded that I should give my address and I’d receive a letter to provide evidence of a rail card OR pay a fine of £20, I couldn’t pay because the card on me had no money on it.

And so gave my university address as she said I’d receive the letter within a week, I received no such letter between that date 5 March and the end of my university tenancy (15 June).


Luckily, I’m moving into the the same university address this week and my flat mate who arrived ahead of me opened my letter and sent it to me, the letter is a ‘Single justice procedure notice’ sent on 17/07/19 and was given 21 days to reply but I had no idea of this letters existence because I haven’t been there all summer, the 21 days have past. What do I do? What does this mean? I’ve tried calling but I don’t have a reference number, the court is closed for the weekend so I can’t call. I don’t have the letter in my possession and I won’t for Atleast for another week, what should I do.

I’m panicking and urgently need advices

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and get your house mate to photograph or scan and send you that copy of the letter sent to you asap so you have all the ref numbers etc to hand when you call the court.

Just to give a bit more context - a Single Justice Procedure Notice (SJPN) is an opportunity to plea guilty to a crime out of court.

If you don't respond, my understanding is that's taken as the equivalent of submitting no defence: and a Magistrate will look at the evidence the prosecutor (train company) submits and decide if you were guilty; and given the lack of a defence, presumably they will find you guilty. This is why it is important to contact the court immediately - we are hoping they have some wriggle room to shift your case to a normal court hearing, which will then buy you some time to sort this out with the train company. Note that you may be asked to come to the court and enter a plea of guilty or not guilty in order to get your case shifted, if that is even possible.

You should also look to contact the train company. Ideally this would be the prosecutions department directly, rather than customer services. I would write to them and call them. In your letter you should repeat in a couple of lines what happened when you travelled, why you didn't respond to the SJPN, state your regret and that you'd be like to settle the matter out of court paying the fare owed and any admin costs incurred in investigating the matter. Send this to the train company prosecutions department. In your call, repeat this information, and say that you've also sent it in writing.

Obv some v good advice here on the way forward.

As you are a student, you probably also have access to your Student Union advice centre who may be able to help you with the way forward on this. You might want to contact them ASAP ref the court situation, esp as term about to start and they may get very busy.

Just turning to the circs that you outlined and for you to think about.

Did you subsequently go and buy a Railcard? That might have been a good idea at the time, and if you are still entitled to one, might be a good idea even now. Shows that you 'realise' that you needed one in the context of the mistake you made.

Also - when you say
"bought a ticket that required a railcard instead of a normal one by accident"

Do you mean that you:
- 'accidentally' selected the extra buttons on a vending machine or on line ticket purchase to get the railcard discount (which I suspect few people would believe, but of course is not impossible),
- or do you mean that what you did was an 'accidental error of judgment' ie bought a ticket when you knew you did not have a Railcard?
- Or did you believe your mum had bought you a railcard but not give it to you to use on your journey (the rules are clear that you have to have the Railcard with you as I'm sure you now appreciate) - I assume this is not the case as you said you lied.

There's a good chance the Train company will just want to settle this with you and not pursue the court prosecution angle, but best to be clear and truthful about the facts of what happened and what you did, state remorse etc.

But of course you will need to contact the Court given the time that has elapsed when you were unable to access your post.

Good luck untangling this. I'm sure people here will be happy to give you good advice at each stage of the process etc.

cuccir said:

Just to give a bit more context - a Single Justice Procedure Notice (SJPN) is an opportunity to plea guilty to a crime out of court.

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The Single Justice Procedure is very much a court hearing; it allows, as the name says, a single magistrate to sentence your case on the basis of the papers in front of them. This will, generally, be a rubber-stamping execution of the sentencing guidelines. You will stand convicted as it is very much "in court". There is no expectation of attendance and allows volume cases to be processed quickly.

Plead not guilty and you'll be summonsed to a full court hearing. You can also opt to appear in court and address the magistrates on the day.

[Edit: This applies if you found out after the trial began - see next two posts.]

If you've only found out in the last couple of days, there's no need to rush, or to worry about not receiving the letter at the time or about it not being in your possession yet.

You have 21 days after you found out about the case, to let the court know in a "statutory declaration of ignorance of proceedings". Then the court is obliged to void any trial (they have discretion if you leave it longer than 21 days).

It isn't your problem if the court convicts you in the meantime, because the conviction would be void after you make the declaration. You get the 21 days to respond that you should have had in the first place. But clearly you may like to make the declaration sooner for peace of mind.

A form for this is halfway down this page, under Part 24. The form has a note explaining the procedure:
https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/forms

The rules are here:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/rulesmenu-2015
The file is under Part 24; within the file, see 24.17.

some bloke said:

If you've only found out in the last couple of days, there's no need to rush, or to worry about not receiving the letter at the time or about it not being in your possession yet.

You have 21 days after you found out about the case, to let the court know in a "statutory declaration of ignorance of proceedings". Then the court is obliged to void any trial (they have discretion if you leave it longer than 21 days).

It isn't your problem if the court convicts you in the meantime, because the conviction would be void after you make the declaration. You get the 21 days to respond that you should have had in the first place. But clearly you may like to make the declaration sooner for peace of mind.

A form for this is halfway down this page, under Part 24. The form has a note explaining the procedure:
https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/forms

The rules are here:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/rulesmenu-2015
The file is under Part 24; within the file, see 24.17.

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The Statutory Declaration is only to be used when you discover that you have been convicted in your absence, without any knowledge of the proceedings. If you find out a day before the trial, you are expected to attend court and seek an adjournment.

Puffing Devil said:

The Statutory Declaration is only to be used when you discover that you have been convicted in your absence, without any knowledge of the proceedings.

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Fair enough.

Strictly speaking, it's where you find out "after the trial began" rather than after conviction (Rule 24.17 reflecting the legislation here), although that may be very unlikely to make a difference in this type of case.

Puffing Devil said:

If you find out a day before the trial, you are expected to attend court and seek an adjournment.

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As it's a single justice procedure where the notice wasn't answered, normally the defendant wouldn't have been given a set date or location for trial or an opportunity to make an appearance. If the trial hasn't begun, court staff can advise.

some bloke said:

As it's a single justice procedure where the notice wasn't answered, normally the defendant wouldn't have been given a set date or location for trial or an opportunity to make an appearance. If the trial hasn't begun, court staff can advise.

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Which is why it's important that the OP contacts the court as a matter of urgency to see if the matter has been heard or to advise they wish the matter to be transferred to a full hearing in order to give time to speak to the TOC.

Puffing Devil said:

it's important that the OP contacts the court as a matter of urgency to see if the matter has been heard

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Agreed.

Puffing Devil said:

or to advise they wish the matter to be transferred to a full hearing in order to give time to speak to the TOC.

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Is that necessary, or can the SJP process start again?

some bloke said:

Is that necessary, or can the SJP process start again?

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Once you're in the SJP you're in the court process, if you opt for a full-court appearance you're not disadvantaged if you plead guilty on the first appearance. You could even do this by post, depending on the charges.

Yays37 said:

On March 5 I was visiting home from uni and bought a ticket that required a railcard instead of a normal one by accident.

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You don't buy a Railcard-discounted fare "by accident". You have to manually select the discount.

If you want to make any progress the first thing you need to do is be honest with yourself and not make excuses. Subsequently buying a Railcard as someone else suggested may indeed help demonstrate that you learned your lesson, but it won't help change the fact that you requested a discount you were not entitled to at the time.

Most importantly, as others said, get in touch with the court.

Puffing Devil said:

Once you're in the SJP you're in the court process, if you opt for a full-court appearance you're not disadvantaged if you plead guilty on the first appearance.

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What I was wondering is whether the process could start from the beginning, with 21 days to talk to the company before the passenger, if there's no settlement, has to make any decision about a full court appearance.

some bloke said:

What I was wondering is whether there's an option for the process to start from the beginning, with 21 days to talk to the company before the passenger, if there's no settlement, has to make any decision about a full court appearance.

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I believe once they get it set aside then they can talk to the company again to try and make a deal outside of court. Thats what an SD is for i thought

some bloke said:

What I was wondering is whether the process could start from the beginning, with 21 days to talk to the company before the passenger, if there's no settlement, has to make any decision about a full court appearance.

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After the notice you have 21 days to respond. During that time you can talk to the prosecution and they can withdraw the case. After the 21 days you go on the list to be heard and will be picked up in date order in the court, unless you have pleaded not guilty or asked to appear in person. For either of these events, you can still talk to the prosecution with the intention of getting them to withdraw the case.

There's no way out, other than the prosecution to withdraw, once you're on the legal conveyor belt.

bb21 said:

You don't buy a Railcard-discounted fare "by accident". You have to manually select the discount.

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I’d be inclined to believe this, the only way I’d see it as a plausible explanation would be if someone’d Had a railcard for years and become conditioned to selecting the discount and continued to do so after the railcard expired