Please stop suggesting statutory declarations. They are for when a defendant had no awareness of the case. It would be entirely inappropriate for the OP to swear otherwise. The declaration form requires you to fill in the date you ”found out about the case” which is necessarily when the SJP notice was received.
The correct process, as a couple of people have mentioned, would be to request the magistrates’ court to rehear the case in the interests of justice under section 142 of the Magistrates’ Court Act, at which point hopefully GTR will offer no evidence this time and the OP will be acquitted.
A s142 application is made by writing to or otherwise contacting the listings department at your local magistrates’ court and asking for a time and date to make the application. Applications need to be made by appearing (in person or by a solicitor; remote appearance may be possible at the moment under Covid rules) at the court and explaining the matter to the magistrates.
The correct process, as a couple of people have mentioned, would be to request the magistrates’ court to rehear the case in the interests of justice under section 142 of the Magistrates’ Court Act, at which point hopefully GTR will offer no evidence this time and the OP will be acquitted.
A s142 application is made by writing to or otherwise contacting the listings department at your local magistrates’ court and asking for a time and date to make the application. Applications need to be made by appearing (in person or by a solicitor; remote appearance may be possible at the moment under Covid rules) at the court and explaining the matter to the magistrates.