Asked to attend court as a witness....

[Scotters]

I recieved a letter asking me to standby as a witness during a court case later this month. This has come about because a year ago I drove past a fight taking place, called the police and gave a statement stating that I saw people fighting but to far to see faces or details etc.

The court case is taking place in London and I live in Manchester. The letter instructs me to come to London the day before and stay locally until called. The case may go on for several days.

Firstly I cannot afford to lay out the money for travel and lodgings for that time. Secondly I have an acting job that week (I have a signed contract) it would be unimaginable to miss the acting job as it would have a massive detrimental effect on my career.

I also recieved no contact from the witness care unit for over 2 months during which time I called twice and left messages and emailed twice. I have just recieved contact now 2 weeks before the case saying I might be summond to be on standby.

Is there anyway out of this predicament?

[puma86]

I know when I was writen to, stating that I might be summoned as a witness, the only way I could avoid it was if I was abroad for that period of time, but even then it would have been hard to avoid. Luckily I wasn't called apon.
As dan said you'll just have to keep trying to contact them and see what they advise.

[puma86]

Just found these, might help. They are from the CJS website here is a link FYI :o) http://www.cjsonline.gov.uk/witness/walkthrough/going_to_court/faq/

What if there is a problem I can't sort out?

If there is a problem that you really cannot sort out and you are unable to attend, you need to contact the person who asked you to appear as soon as possible in advance of the court case. You should allow them enough time to make the necessary alternative arrangements.
In this situation if your evidence is not crucial to the case you may be excused from attending. If your evidence is essential to the case, the lawyer may ask the court for an adjournment. This means that the case will be heard at later date. This is difficult to do especially if the accused person is in custody.
You should remember that your attendance in court could make all the difference to the outcome of the case.

What do I do if the trial date is on a date that I cannot attend?

You should contact the person who asked you to attend court immediately so that the they can decide what needs to be done.

What happens if I cannot afford to go to court?

You are entitled to travel expenses. If you cannot afford to get to court and need the money in advance you should let the person who asked you to come to court know and they will try to sort something out.

[fredpuli47]

Give the person requiring your attendance as much notice as you can, with a full explanation including the adverse consequences to you if you had to attend at the time given.Offer all the alternative dates or periods when you are not so encumbered.

It's amazing how often, once counsel gets their hands on the papers and are aware of a witness' difficulty, they can either agree that the witness' formal witness statement be read as evidence as it is or agree most of it be read and dispense with the rest or simply take certain statements of fact from it and treat those as agreed facts, all of which courses of action avoid the witness' attendance.There's a, tendency to fully bind witnesses [have them attend] as a matter of course, without thinking of ways of avoiding that inconvenience to them.If you are lucky, that may happen here.