Witness expenses, court case 200 miles from crash site?
Discussion
I foolishly volunteeered my details after witnessing a minor prang over a year ago.
Crash in Devon.
Now being asked if I can attend court as witness.
In the bloody Midlands!
At 10 AM.
Earliest train gets there 1240.
On a date I was keeping the week free to go sailing.
Should I say, yes, I'm available, it's up to you to arrange a chauffered limo and a decent hotel?
And by the way, I've spent about two grand to be able to go sailing that week...
The other problem is, I would be a crap witness, I remember the salient facts and could tell you who was in the wrong, but don't exactly have the date etched on my mind, couldn't tell you the makes or colours of the cars, and I won't recognise the face of the guilty party. It's not important to me and my brain doesn't work like that!
So I imagine any cross-examining laywer will make me look like an idiot.
Everything I can definitely say is bleedin' obvious from the fact that car the first has a dent in the side and car the second has a dent in the front, apart from a detail which suggests the cause of 2nd not avoiding 1st. 'suggests', not 'proves'.
I guess what's at stake is someone's blame-free record and small change for an insurance company
Not going to discuss the incident.
I just don't know the mechanics of these things other than by rumour.
Crash in Devon.
Now being asked if I can attend court as witness.
In the bloody Midlands!
At 10 AM.
Earliest train gets there 1240.
On a date I was keeping the week free to go sailing.
Should I say, yes, I'm available, it's up to you to arrange a chauffered limo and a decent hotel?
And by the way, I've spent about two grand to be able to go sailing that week...
The other problem is, I would be a crap witness, I remember the salient facts and could tell you who was in the wrong, but don't exactly have the date etched on my mind, couldn't tell you the makes or colours of the cars, and I won't recognise the face of the guilty party. It's not important to me and my brain doesn't work like that!
So I imagine any cross-examining laywer will make me look like an idiot.
Everything I can definitely say is bleedin' obvious from the fact that car the first has a dent in the side and car the second has a dent in the front, apart from a detail which suggests the cause of 2nd not avoiding 1st. 'suggests', not 'proves'.
I guess what's at stake is someone's blame-free record and small change for an insurance company
Not going to discuss the incident.
I just don't know the mechanics of these things other than by rumour.
valiant said:
Get down there and they’ll have settled just before the trial was due to start.
Is that 'catch 22'?If defence can turn up with the witnesses, the other side will bottle?
Otherwise, the plaintiff will see the defence has no witnesses and will proceed?
Or am I relying too much on TV for knowing how this works?
I've only ever been to court as a juror!
Who is asking you to attend OP?
I would be contacting whoever it was and asking/telling them what you have said here regarding distance, train times, need for accommodation. As an added bonus, you could also tell them you have a holiday booked, so would need compensating for the disruption. If they can’t offer you a package that makes it worth your while then tell them you can’t attend. This is not like jury service or being a witness in a criminal trial, but even in those you would be entitled to expenses/ accommodation costs.
I would be contacting whoever it was and asking/telling them what you have said here regarding distance, train times, need for accommodation. As an added bonus, you could also tell them you have a holiday booked, so would need compensating for the disruption. If they can’t offer you a package that makes it worth your while then tell them you can’t attend. This is not like jury service or being a witness in a criminal trial, but even in those you would be entitled to expenses/ accommodation costs.
Alex Z said:
The date and identity of the driver are unlikely to be key questions. The important thing will be “what did the cars do?”
Some court hearings are remote these days. Ask about attending via Zoom or similar
I think you are right, but a good barrister might shed doubt on whether we're even talking about the same cars?Some court hearings are remote these days. Ask about attending via Zoom or similar
Although there's only one driver I gave my details to.
While I completely empathise with one driver, his insurance company have treated me badly as witness, so I'm fairly mixed about the whole saga.
I may offer to participate via Tiktok or something.
KungFuPanda said:
Were you not asked about dates of availability prior to the Court date being set? Also, have you been served with a formal witness summons?
Only contact this year has been from a solicitor's dogsbody via email and phone.I've previously said it's not practical for me to get to the arse end of the Midlands.
I was led to believe a formal emailed statement was all they needed.
unrepentant said:
If you're being asked to appear for the defence tell them your fee as an expert witness is 2000 quid a day plus expenses including first class travel, 5* hotel accommodation and gourmet dining.
Yes that’ll be very helpful to the person who the OP presumably gave their details to in the first place.As someone who has to try and get witnesses to Court all the time, simply phone/e-mail the person who is handling it and tell them you're on holiday that week and won't be able to make the Trial. If they haven't asked you for your availability before getting the Trial listed, that's on them.
Do they have your home address? If so, they may send you a witness summons, which you then won't be able to ignore, and that will include the standard £25 for your expenses for the day. If you want more, you're going to have to ask them.
Odds on they will probably settle it anyway before Trial and you won't be needed.
Do they have your home address? If so, they may send you a witness summons, which you then won't be able to ignore, and that will include the standard £25 for your expenses for the day. If you want more, you're going to have to ask them.
Odds on they will probably settle it anyway before Trial and you won't be needed.
Nezquick said:
As someone who has to try and get witnesses to Court all the time, simply phone/e-mail the person who is handling it and tell them you're on holiday that week and won't be able to make the Trial. If they haven't asked you for your availability before getting the Trial listed, that's on them.
Do they have your home address? If so, they may send you a witness summons, which you then won't be able to ignore, and that will include the standard £25 for your expenses for the day. If you want more, you're going to have to ask them.
Odds on they will probably settle it anyway before Trial and you won't be needed.
I remember serving witness summonses in the 80's and 90's with £1 conduct money attached!Do they have your home address? If so, they may send you a witness summons, which you then won't be able to ignore, and that will include the standard £25 for your expenses for the day. If you want more, you're going to have to ask them.
Odds on they will probably settle it anyway before Trial and you won't be needed.
OutInTheShed said:
I
The other problem is, I would be a crap witness, I remember the salient facts and could tell you who was in the wrong, but don't exactly have the date etched on my mind, couldn't tell you the makes or colours of the cars, and I won't recognise the face of the guilty party. It's not important to me and my brain doesn't work like that!
So I imagine any cross-examining laywer will make me look like an idiot.
Not sure what kind of court this is - there are different rules about hearsay - but in general, anyone has the right to test your statement, unless the statement is agreed (or both sides agree to remove bits which are not agreed) then oral evidence and cross examination would be normal.The other problem is, I would be a crap witness, I remember the salient facts and could tell you who was in the wrong, but don't exactly have the date etched on my mind, couldn't tell you the makes or colours of the cars, and I won't recognise the face of the guilty party. It's not important to me and my brain doesn't work like that!
So I imagine any cross-examining laywer will make me look like an idiot.
The idea is not to make you look like an idiot. You wrote a statement because your memory then was presumably better than it is now; but there may be further details which come out in evidence. There may be multiple accounts, multiple witnesses, multiple sources of evidence, and the court will need to decide what to assign the most weight.
Depending on the court you should be recompensed but contact the court if you are in doubt.
Responder.First said:
There is no civic duty anymore, its every person for themselves!
Let the suffer, you go sailing.
Which is partly fair, but the process of settling accident disputes is already a mess based on claim handling companies trying to exploit each other in hope of a best outcome for themselves in reclaiming obscenely inflated hire car costs etc. Let the suffer, you go sailing.
I'd actually say the whole process has been corrupted and this undermines any notion of civic duty.
Terrible shame.
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