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Her Majesty court services.........

I want to try get back money i have wasted (loss of earnings + expenses) by turning up twice for court. 1st time allocated a court where no cps were in attendance. 2nd time to be told no time to do the case, so adjourned again.

Was told by the magistate to try & get money back.

1.Has anyone tried to do this before & what was the outcome.
2.Is there a template of a letter out there i could use.
3.Any ideas gratefully received
if i had known then what i know now

Comments

  • Bossyboots
    Bossyboots Posts: 6,758 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Are you the defendant or a witness?

    The courts do not repay lost earnings, even to defendants found not guilty so you are on a loser with that one. If you are a witness they would say it is your civic duty.

    You are entitled to your travel expenses and subsistence if you are a witness.

    You would also be entitled to your travel and subsistence if you are the defendant and you are found not guilty. If you are convicted, you cannot reclaim anything.

    If you are the defendant then your solicitor can make an application to the court for the costs of the wasted attendance to be awarded against the CPS but that application should have been made on the day. This is only likely to cover the legal fees so is probably of no use to you. The court are not likely to pay out for wasting public funds by overlisting their cases, they do it every day!

    So, from what you have said, there is little chance of you recovering any redress for the failings in the system. Your experience is encountered by people in courts everyday of the week so imagine if they had to pay out to everyone.
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 47,390 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    When I was a witness, I was sent a form afterwards which allowed me to claim subsistence, and IF my employer was making me take unpaid leave I could also claim a bit more for that. Since it was one of my colleagues who'd been assaulted at the office, work were not going to try and make us take unpaid leave ...
    Signature removed for peace of mind
  • Hi Sue,

    Can I ask - what was the outcome of the assault at the office?

    I ask because I was assaulted by a member of the public at work, she was charged with breach of the peace and assault. She pleaded not guilty, so myself and colleagues were cited to court. The offender was offered "plea bargaining" The court dropped the ASSAULT charge and she pleaded guilty to Breach of the Peace!! £100 fine. :mad:

    In other words it is ok to assault employees doing their job!!

    I hope you had a better result??
  • oysterman
    oysterman Posts: 749 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    Bossyboots wrote:
    Are you the defendant or a witness?

    The courts do not repay lost earnings, even to defendants found not guilty so you are on a loser with that one. If you are a witness they would say it is your civic duty.

    You are entitled to your travel expenses and subsistence if you are a witness.

    You would also be entitled to your travel and subsistence if you are the defendant and you are found not guilty. If you are convicted, you cannot reclaim anything.

    If you are the defendant then your solicitor can make an application to the court for the costs of the wasted attendance to be awarded against the CPS but that application should have been made on the day. This is only likely to cover the legal fees so is probably of no use to you. The court are not likely to pay out for wasting public funds by overlisting their cases, they do it every day!

    So, from what you have said, there is little chance of you recovering any redress for the failings in the system. Your experience is encountered by people in courts everyday of the week so imagine if they had to pay out to everyone.

    I'm not the defendant or witness, i'm the applicant and the police have been summoned to court to respond to my application. Now to save money i am representing myself, which if i had a solicitor for the both appearances would have cost me a fortune.

    Anyway i will write my letter & see what happens
    if i had known then what i know now
  • Bossyboots
    Bossyboots Posts: 6,758 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    oysterman wrote:
    I'm not the defendant or witness, i'm the applicant and the police have been summoned to court to respond to my application. Now to save money i am representing myself, which if i had a solicitor for the both appearances would have cost me a fortune.

    Anyway i will write my letter & see what happens

    You should have made the application for a wasted costs order for the hearing at which the CPS did not turn up. In your case the wasted costs were your lost wages and travel costs. I am surprised the court clerk did not suggest to you that you did this, they are not usually backwards in coming forwards in this respect (in our local court anyway). You may be able to do this at the end of the matter particularly if you are successful but the CPS will object although without good reason (of which there usually is none) you may well get an award. Make sure you have all the details of the losses to hand as they will be told to pay a monetary sum, not a descriptive payment (as in "loss of one day's wages"). I think you may have a tougher job with the second time. In my experience the court is not interested in criticism of difficulties that arise because of their failings and over listing is a mammoth problem in the courts because they have so many cracked trials. They double up on cases to make sure they are making the most use of the magistrates and courtrooms on a day to day basis.

    If you get no joy in writing to your local court, they should be able to give you details of who you can appeal to higher up.

    One difficulty you will face in relation to the second time, is that defendants and witnesses are unable to claim for events like this and to allow you do so would be to treat you more favourably than them. This is why I think you may not recover anything direct from the court for that lost hearing day. Again, you may be able to recover something if you are successful.

    You don't have to answer this, but I am curious as to why the CPS were expected to attend if you are the applicant and it is the police who have been summonsed.
  • oysterman
    oysterman Posts: 749 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    Bossyboots wrote:
    You should have made the application for a wasted costs order for the hearing at which the CPS did not turn up. In your case the wasted costs were your lost wages and travel costs. I am surprised the court clerk did not suggest to you that you did this, they are not usually backwards in coming forwards in this respect (in our local court anyway). You may be able to do this at the end of the matter particularly if you are successful but the CPS will object although without good reason (of which there usually is none) you may well get an award. Make sure you have all the details of the losses to hand as they will be told to pay a monetary sum, not a descriptive payment (as in "loss of one day's wages"). I think you may have a tougher job with the second time. In my experience the court is not interested in criticism of difficulties that arise because of their failings and over listing is a mammoth problem in the courts because they have so many cracked trials. They double up on cases to make sure they are making the most use of the magistrates and courtrooms on a day to day basis.

    If you get no joy in writing to your local court, they should be able to give you details of who you can appeal to higher up.

    One difficulty you will face in relation to the second time, is that defendants and witnesses are unable to claim for events like this and to allow you do so would be to treat you more favourably than them. This is why I think you may not recover anything direct from the court for that lost hearing day. Again, you may be able to recover something if you are successful.

    You don't have to answer this, but I am curious as to why the CPS were expected to attend if you are the applicant and it is the police who have been summonsed.

    Without putting down everything the police & cps will be working together to object to my application.
    if i had known then what i know now
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 47,390 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Hi Sue,

    Can I ask - what was the outcome of the assault at the office?

    I ask because I was assaulted by a member of the public at work, she was charged with breach of the peace and assault. She pleaded not guilty, so myself and colleagues were cited to court. The offender was offered "plea bargaining" The court dropped the ASSAULT charge and she pleaded guilty to Breach of the Peace!! £100 fine. :mad:

    In other words it is ok to assault employees doing their job!!

    I hope you had a better result??
    It is a few years' ago now, I think the chap was charged with assault but pleaded not guilty and ended up paying £50 costs to my colleague, something else as well but not a prison sentence. I suppose in your case the CPS felt there was a chance the assault charge would not stick? Certainly I felt the odds were rigged in favour of the defendant, because we only met the prosecuting solicitor a few minutes before going into court and he ran through separately what each of us had seen / could say.

    Work took a strong line and the chap was banned from coming into the office for ever after. If anyone had needed to see him in person then two people would have been sent and probably a meeting would have been arranged on neutral ground.
    Signature removed for peace of mind
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