WHAT IS A POSTAL REQUISITION OR A COURT SUMMONS?

A postal requisition or a court summons is a way for you to be charged to attend Court by post. It requires you to attend Court on the date and time stated on the summons to attend and answer the charge.

You will be required to enter a guilty or not guilty plea on the day you have been given so you should not delay getting legal advice.

The postal requisition/court summons can be used for most offences from driving matters all the way to the most serious fraud and money laundering offences. Most usually, the police, HMRC and NCA issue you with a summons when they have interviewed you in the past.

In most cases, the postal requisition may arrive months after you were spoken to by the police and as a complete surprise. If this is the case, you should get advice to check the validity of the requisition; some offences have time limits and a postal requisition could be out of time and thus void.

FREE ADVICE?

If you have received a court summons, you can call us for a free, confidential and no obligation discussion about your case. We will be able to explain how may help you and if you are eligible for free representation under legal aid to represent you at the Magistrates’ Court or the Crown Court.

For Free Advice you can call us on 01162555155. This number is answered 24 hours a day night and day. Alternatively, you can email us on [email protected].

It does not matter that you have had advice in the past from a solicitor, you can contact us for free independent advice now.

WHAT IF I IGNORE THE SUMMONS?

You must not ignore the summons. You must attend Court and if you do not a warrant without bail can be issued. That means you are liable to be arrested and remanded in police custody until you are produced to court.

WHAT IF I CANNOT MAKE THE DATE GIVEN ON THE SUMMONS?

Don’t panic. We can make a request for an adjournment. For this, we will require evidence of why you cannot attend i.e. pre-booked holiday, difficulty getting time off work.

For some offences, provided we have full instructions, we can enter a plea on your behalf and the matter can be dealt with in your absence.

WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW?

Get legal advice as soon as possible. We can advise you as to the offence you face, we can apply for legal aid for you and then liaise with the prosecution on your behalf to discuss matters further. We are then able to have one of our expert solicitor attend Court to represent you.

Also, we will start to prepare your case and if there is evidence we can gather before the first hearing date we can then start collecting this and discussing your defence or mitigation.

CONTACT US TODAY

Our expert team of criminal defence solicitors can defend you for all manner of offences. Call us on 01162555155 or email [email protected] and we can progress matters without delay.