Being told by employer you need to go to court

AquaGirl

Thank you everyone who's replied for your help.
In the end i decided to take legal advice so will be following what they've said.

Casey1709

AquaGirl wrote: »

Thank you everyone who's replied for your help.
In the end i decided to take legal advice so will be following what they've said.

Care to share the giste of the legal advice?

DCFC79

Mistral001 wrote: »

Go to court, answer the questions asked and then go home or back to work. You are there representing only yourself. You will not be representing the owner of the vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle will no doubt be there and they will be telling the court what they thought happened. You need to tell your side.

You cannot just wish away this accident and pretend it did not happen or hope it will all be taken care of by other people. You are an important person regarding this accident.

Just do this OP.

Go to court, answer the questions honestly and come home. Unless you have something to hide why not go ?

From what I read of the thread you were involved so surely you should go.

ciderboy2009

MamaMoon wrote: »

Sorry for joining the party late, but the claimant (or defendant) can apply to the court for a witness summons.

If you are served with a witness summons, far better that you attend on your own terms, as otherwise the court will probably be asking you later why you disobeyed their order. Could turn out to be very expensive.

Not just expensive - if you ignore a witness summons you could be considered as being in contempt of court which could lead to imprisonment.

AquaGirl

Casey1709 wrote: »

Care to share the giste of the legal advice?

I have no problem doing that. I didn't because it goes slightly against the advice here and because of that i don't expect it to be believed.
I'm well aware that the good friendly nice person thing to do would be to go along with it even if i don't have to. I didn't go in to details but i actually briefly mentioned one reason why i don't want to. The other is because i struggle in those situations, i get flustered & struggle with my words and even though i'll be being honest and know i am right, those legal people with their wordplay trickery, twisting & turning how you phrase things will have me looking like i'm not innocent, that'll frustrate me & that will show because i can't stand people twisting and turning what i say.

But anyway. I told them exactly what's happened, been said and gone on. I was advised that as things currently stand i do not have to attend. My employer would have to pay me for going but a) i'm not bothered about that and b) with our pay system it would be fairly easy for them to get that back over time if they wanted, and they probably will want.

So there you go, as things currently stand i don't have to go and i also can't be sacked for not going (as things currently stand). Now there may be changes that come about which would then mean that i will have to go and i could be in a position to be sacked if i don't attend but right now that's not the case.

steampowered

Do you have less than 2 years' service?

If so, you do not qualify for unfair dismissal rights, and the employer can sack you at any time without giving a reason (save for very limited exceptions which aren't relevant here such as dismissals due to race or gender).

TBagpuss

OP, in terms of your words being twisted or being flustered, these are very common worries for people appearing in court, even as witnesses.

Bear in mind that there are 2 lawyers - one of whom is there to represent you/your insurers. They will intervene is inappropriate qustions are asked of you and shuld be able ask for clarification if anything you say is unclear.

Normally, your statement will have been sent to the court and you will be asked to confirm what you said was correct, then any questions would be follow up to what is in the statement. You are allowed to ask the lawyer to re-phrase their question if you are not clear about what they are asking, and while it is very common to be nervouse, remining yourself that it is OK to pause, and think, before answering, can help a lot. (it is also OK to say you dont know or can't remember, if you don't know know or can't remember)

lisyloo

Your employer could sack you and say it’s because you work is not up to scratch.
They cannot sack you because you didn’t attend court but can come up with any other reason they choose to and it would be hard for you to prove otherwise.

I believe the advice you’ve had but not sure it take account of the real world consequences.

Mnd

If I had been involved in an accident and was 100% sure it was not my fault, but for some reason it ended up in court, I would want to be there to see what the arguments were. In fact I would insist on being there. I suspect the OP would be complaining if their employer was refusing to let them attend.

AquaGirl

TBagpuss wrote: »

OP, in terms of your words being twisted or being flustered, these are very common worries for people appearing in court, even as witnesses.

Bear in mind that there are 2 lawyers - one of whom is there to represent you/your insurers. They will intervene is inappropriate qustions are asked of you and shuld be able ask for clarification if anything you say is unclear.

I made my earlier comment not as someone who's heard a bit of this and a bit of that and their mums friends cousin told them this is what happens in court but as someone who's been in court twice before on different sides of the fence.
So i say it as someone who knows exactly what it's like, from different angles. Not someone who's watched it on TV.

it is also OK to say you dont know or can't remember, if you don't know know or can't remember)

You're kidding right?
That stuff is like asking where they've laid their landmines & then jumping right on them. You're not allowed to not remember - it gets used against you. You're not allowed to not know. Maybe you had a good experience in your court session, maybe they went easy on you, maybe i just had a particularly nasty experience that's out of the ordinary.

Mnd wrote: »

I suspect the OP would be complaining if their employer was refusing to let them attend.

Pointless i'm afraid.
I'm not asking to attend so to talk about if this happened and that happened and all these events lined up perfectly that currently don't ... is pointless. Best to deal with the matter at hand and not what doesn't actually apply.