PF drops case day before trial, can I claim expenses?
Discussion
Hello everyone,
Hope you can help me!
I was charged last year with careless driving and my trial was due to go ahead today. I've since relocated and travelled back yesterday to make sure I had plenty of time to relax before going to court today. However, around 3.30 pm the Procurator Fiscal office called a relative to advise that the case has been dropped. Of course, I'm very happy with this as my friend and I thought we were having to give evidence to prove my innocence which I've maintained from the start!
What would I be entitled to receive back in expenses and how would I go about it? Should I go in to the Fiscal's office on Monday? From looking online, I can't find anything that's applicable to my circumstances. I've had to take two days off work at an inconvenient time and spend cash on fuel and accommodation to be here. Luckily I have friends and family here so it's not a completely wasted journey. I'm quite annoyed that it even got this far to be honest and I'm also out of pocket for legal defence costs. I'll be hearing from the law firm next week to find out what I'm due back from them.
Thank you in advance for any advice or info!
Hope you can help me!
I was charged last year with careless driving and my trial was due to go ahead today. I've since relocated and travelled back yesterday to make sure I had plenty of time to relax before going to court today. However, around 3.30 pm the Procurator Fiscal office called a relative to advise that the case has been dropped. Of course, I'm very happy with this as my friend and I thought we were having to give evidence to prove my innocence which I've maintained from the start!
What would I be entitled to receive back in expenses and how would I go about it? Should I go in to the Fiscal's office on Monday? From looking online, I can't find anything that's applicable to my circumstances. I've had to take two days off work at an inconvenient time and spend cash on fuel and accommodation to be here. Luckily I have friends and family here so it's not a completely wasted journey. I'm quite annoyed that it even got this far to be honest and I'm also out of pocket for legal defence costs. I'll be hearing from the law firm next week to find out what I'm due back from them.
Thank you in advance for any advice or info!
I don't know the legal position , but it strikes me that if you had travelled a significant distance , and booked accommodation to attend court , all before receiving notice of the cancellation ( and too late to obtain a refund for accommodation ) then it is not unreasonable that your expenses should be refunded just as though the case had gone ahead .
Not so sure, but if they have no informed you directly, then I think you can claim. Their argument will be you did not need to go two days before, only on the day, but if they didn't tell you, only a relative, then you can claim you'd travelled anyway as did not know.
I went to Scottish court as a witness in an assault. I am 400 miles away, travelled up on the day, took a day off etc. case was dropped in the waiting area as the defendant changed his plea, a common tactic to see if witnesses actually show up!
I was able to claim travel expenses and abou 30quid for my day off! The expenses were three fifths of f
k all tbh.
Waste of time and menu cos some tt couldn't hold his beer!
I went to Scottish court as a witness in an assault. I am 400 miles away, travelled up on the day, took a day off etc. case was dropped in the waiting area as the defendant changed his plea, a common tactic to see if witnesses actually show up!
I was able to claim travel expenses and abou 30quid for my day off! The expenses were three fifths of f
k all tbh. Waste of time and menu cos some t
t couldn't hold his beer! s3fella said:
Not so sure, but if they have no informed you directly, then I think you can claim. Their argument will be you did not need to go two days before, only on the day, but if they didn't tell you, only a relative, then you can claim you'd travelled anyway as did not know.
I went to Scottish court as a witness in an assault. I am 400 miles away, travelled up on the day, took a day off etc. case was dropped in the waiting area as the defendant changed his plea, a common tactic to see if witnesses actually show up!
I was able to claim travel expenses and abou 30quid for my day off! The expenses were three fifths of fk all tbh.
Waste of time and menu cos some tt couldn't hold his beer!
He didn't travel up two days before , only the day before so that he could stay overnight and be rested before attending court in the morning ; I wouldn't want to travel overnight and then straight into court .I went to Scottish court as a witness in an assault. I am 400 miles away, travelled up on the day, took a day off etc. case was dropped in the waiting area as the defendant changed his plea, a common tactic to see if witnesses actually show up!
I was able to claim travel expenses and abou 30quid for my day off! The expenses were three fifths of f
k all tbh. Waste of time and menu cos some t
t couldn't hold his beer! I've been cited as a witness many times in connection with work and normally you are expected to turn up first thing in the morning then wait to be called , so from a considerable distance travelling on the day wouldn't be practicable .
Wow. I've not used this forum in a while although I do frequent the site for motoring news, yet I can see from some of the replies that there's a still a few aholes on here.
Thanks for the helpful replies! I'll pop in to their office on Monday and find out where I stand. It's not a stroke of luck, it should never have got to court in the first place.
holes on here.Thanks for the helpful replies! I'll pop in to their office on Monday and find out where I stand. It's not a stroke of luck, it should never have got to court in the first place.
daveinaravecave said:
Wow. I've not used this forum in a while although I do frequent the site for motoring news, yet I can see from some of the replies that there's a still a few aholes on here.
Thanks for the helpful replies! I'll pop in to their office on Monday and find out where I stand. It's not a stroke of luck, it should never have got to court in the first place.
As I stated in the previous post you cannot claim expenses! Don't waste your time - take this from someone who worked in the Scottish Court Service for 20 years.holes on here.Thanks for the helpful replies! I'll pop in to their office on Monday and find out where I stand. It's not a stroke of luck, it should never have got to court in the first place.
matchmaker said:
As I stated in the previous post you cannot claim expenses! Don't waste your time - take this from someone who worked in the Scottish Court Service for 20 years.
Thanks for clarifying who you are matchmaker. It's rather annoying that I'm a few hundred quid down though. I guess it's alright for the police to waste our time at the roadside and take them through the courts for feck all! I also assume that there's no Scottish equivalent to s16 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985?One more question.... I've yet to find out the reason it was dropped. What's the best way to go about this? Thankfully I'm not familiar with the courts and their processes.
daveinaravecave said:
matchmaker said:
As I stated in the previous post you cannot claim expenses! Don't waste your time - take this from someone who worked in the Scottish Court Service for 20 years.
Thanks for clarifying who you are matchmaker. It's rather annoying that I'm a few hundred quid down though. I guess it's alright for the police to waste our time at the roadside and take them through the courts for feck all! I also assume that there's no Scottish equivalent to s16 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985?One more question.... I've yet to find out the reason it was dropped. What's the best way to go about this? Thankfully I'm not familiar with the courts and their processes.
You (or your solicitor) could ask the Fiscal's office why it was dropped, but they are under no obligation to tell you!
Ken Figenus said:
Everyone else involved in the procedures were getting paid - why not repay just costs to the wrongly accused victim? Seems fair?
Yes, that would seem fair but little about the UK's legal 'system' is fair. I've been almost exactly where the OP is and also got put to an awful lot of trouble, due to no fault of my own, with no compensation.It seems defendants and witnesses have to organise themselves to please the Courts but the Courts can be as disorganised as they wish, and often are.
My guess is that the prosecution witness was unavailable and that the prosecution did not know this until the day before the case. Maybe they could have delayed the case but deemed cancellation to be the fairer option at that point. Perhaps a good procedure is to call the court the day before the case to confirm it is going ahead.
If the case had gone ahead resulting in not guilty then the OP would be in the same position as now. If found guilty then much worse.
If the case had gone ahead resulting in not guilty then the OP would be in the same position as now. If found guilty then much worse.
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