Bizarre case of mistaken identity leads to train fine court case

It would have been an "Attachment of Earnings Order" (AEO), made under the 1971 Attachment of Earnings Act, which, following a conviction, allows the Courts to receive penalties in instalments as they are deducted from the person's regular wage / salary. It is a very common procedure.

 

In what way is the court contacting an employer about an unpaid fine a breach of privacy?

 

There would have been plenty of letters to the address the court had for him... Summons, Notification of Fine, Chasing non-payment of fine.

 

How did the court - or anybody else - know who the employer was?

That is a level of detail which isn't recorded whenever I PF or interview somebody.

If somebody had used his address then surely there would have been some correspondence to his address. If that address was not given then how could the prosecution proceed given that somebody else must have been getting the letters?

Something doesn't sound right (I'm not suggesting that the original complainant is lying BTW!)

 

When a court order is given to collect unpaid fine/s by garnishing wages in Australia, it is essentially two court orders in one - one telling the Australian Taxation Office to provide the details they have regarding the person's employer and the second to the employer to make the necessary deductions.

I expect that the broad concept would be similar in Britain even if the specific details (e.g. name of the ATO equivalent) are different.

 

Her Majesty's revenue and customs. The custom is probably different depending on which part of the Uk you're in (Scottish Law is different to English/Welsh law, sometimes different words for near identical things, sometimes different concepts entirely).

 

Which according to the newspaper report, was an address in Bredbury, where Mr Wainwright does not live.

If a summons, notification of fine, chasing letters etc were not sent to Mr Wainwright at the address where he actually resides, then it is quite understandable that he was not aware of the matter until his employer received an attachment of earnings order.

It doesn't say anyone used his address.

Perhaps the defendant was convicted in his absence on the day of the court hearing, and then flawed attempts were made to trace the defendant. At some point, Northern Rail or the court itself found an actual address for Mr Lee Wainwright, and wrongly assumed he was the defendant.

No it isn't. It is for the prosecution to prove that the defendant before the court is guilty of an offence.

Possibly because they now accept that the person who committed the offence is someone else.

 

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news...afkaesque_nightmare_over_unpaid_train_ticket/

Obviously STM don't verify the identity of people they catch without tickets but then did anyone think that they actually did?

 

Out of interest, how exactly do you suggest rail staff verify the details they are given? Considering a number of people on this forum keep going on about the fact fare dodgers who are being questioned are under no obligation to provide any proof of name/address etc.

 

I used to lock them in the toilet until they saw sense. I got too many "please explains" so I stopped - well that and the fact that modern train toilets are damn difficult to lock with a BR No. 1 key.

Should we have a national identity card in this country? It might make my job a bit easier..........

 

I'd rather they spend the estimated £5.3Bn on something other than a sledgehammer to crack that peanut.

 

Yes.

It would make many people's jobs a lot easier. I lived 20+ years in a country that has national ID cards and it makes everything so much easier than two bills and a bank statement. And with the new more advanced cards they're introducing, ID theft is almost a non-problem.

Never going to happen here, unfortunately, due to the hyperbole spouted in the name of 'civil liberties'. Just as would a universal DNA database. Also never going to happen.

 

Let's hope you're right.

 

Probably so. And the economy will continue to lose billions of pounds due to preventable identify (and other) fraud.

 

Do you really think criminals won't find a way to exploit identity cards? When your identity card has been cloned then you're really screwed.

 

No, I don't believe that they would be impossible to clone. But they would set a much higher bar than 'two bills and a bank statement'.

 

I'm all for removal of fingers, for comparison at a later point. Boss seems to disagree.

 

That's monstrous, surely a toe would be sufficient.

 

No, that could affect their balance. Even I have my limits.