IN THE FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL APPEAL: EA/2017/0062

GENERAL REGULATORY CHAMBER

(INFORMATION RIGHTS)

BETWEEN:

Appellant
and

THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER

Respondent

EXHIBIT 1
Council Tax Liability Order application

(dereliction of duty)
 --~~-,-~- -~._---------~~--------

"',,. i
MAJOR CRIME UNIT
Economic Crime Section
PO Box 515
Protecting Communities, Targeting Crlmina!s Hull
HU99FT

Your Ref:
Our Ref: MCU/ECS/MWW

Mr t-' This matter is being dealt with by:

3' Detective Sergeant Wood
On Tel No: 01482 -- 578942
Grims5y--- ~ Facsimile: 01482 - 317147
DN()'1 fln I

11 July 2011
~--

Dear-M~_ ALLEGED FRAUDULENT COURT SUMMONS

Thank you for your letter of 15 May 2011. I have made enquiries with the Magistrates
Court who have advised me that the Summons is genuine. Due to the high volume of
cases involving non-payment of Council Tax, the Court uses a 'Bulk Procedure' method
to process the summonses.

Yours sincerely,

Michael W Wood
Detective Sergeant 1202
MAJOR CRIME UNIT
Grimsby
Economic Crime Section Hessle Police Station North East Lincolnshire
Hessle Road DN32
HULL
HU47BA
Your Ref: MCU/ECS/MWW

02/08/11

Dear Mr Wood

Re: Reporting fake and fraudulent Court Summons

Thank you for your letter of 11 July 2011 and your enquiries with the Magistrates court.

Im aware about how the courts Bulk Procedure operates and it is exactly this procedure that
raises my suspicion that the summonses are in fact suspect and require some investigation.

In addition to the various items of legislation that these summonses appear to not conform with,
there is also the question of whether or not the judicial process is carried out lawfully.

For example the reference to Lord Widgery C.J's case law "Regina v. Brentford Justices, Ex parte
Catlin" is in my opinion cause to believe that issuing these Summonses 'en mass' would amount to
very serious maladministration as can be seen from the following.

Lord Widgery's comments:

"....It must however be remembered that before a summons or warrant is issued the information
must be laid before a magistrate and he must go through the judicial exercise of deciding whether
a summons or warrant ought to be issued or not. If a magistrate authorises the issue of a
summons without having applied his mind to the information then he is guilty of dereliction of duty
and if in any particular justices' clerk's office a practice goes on of summonses being issued
without information being laid before the magistrate at all, then a very serious instance of
maladministration arises which should have the attention of the authorities without delay...."

"A decision by magistrates whether to issue a summons pursuant to information laid involves the
exercise of a judicial function, and is not merely administrative."

Given that the number of these summonses run into several hundred or even thousands at any
given hearing, and that the council send out their own, I'd say it was more than reasonable to
suspect very serious instances of maladministration as those mentioned above.

There is evidence which more than suggests that the magistrates court would not be performing
its judicial function in these bulk processes. The following was obtained from a Freedom of
Information request to North East Lincolnshire Council with regards the courts issuing of Liability
Orders on their request.
The following represent the number of Liability Orders the council have obtained from the court the
over the last 5 years:

6,580 Liability Orders issued for debt less than 100

1,387 for debt less than 25

981 for debt less than 20

544 for debt less than 15

82 for debt less than 10

45 for debt less than 5

12 for debt less than 1

3 Liability Orders issued for debt of only 1p

The Liability Orders obtained from the Magistrates' court permit the authority to call in bailiffs,
subsequently adding more fees to those penalties the alleged debtors have already incurred by the
council. This is happening, presumably with all local authorities up and down the country, and
results in millions of pounds being scammed from council tax paying residents each year.

In light of the new information could this matter be investigated with the utmost urgency and in the
meantime please provide me with a crime number.

Yours sincerely

. .
 MAJOR CRIME UNIT
Economic Crime Section
PO Box 515
Protecting Communtties. Targeting Criminals Hull
HU99FT

Your Ref:
Our Ref: MCU/ECS/MWW

This matter is being dealt with by:

Detective Sergeant Wood
On Tel No: 01482 -- 578942
Facsimile: 01482 - 317147

15 September 2011

Dear Mr (':11:-"

ALLEGED FRAUDULENT COURT SUMMONS

I am in receipt of your letters of 2nd and 31 sI August 2011. I have referred the matter to
our Legal Services department and I will contact you again when I have received their
advice on the matter.

Yours sincerely,

I~, .i J ".

;j~::5t'/0(

Michael W Wood - ~-- ----

Detective Sergeant 1202

MAJOR CRIME UNIT
Grimsby
Economic Crime Section Hessle Police Station North East Lincolnshire
Hessle Road DN32
HULL
HU47BA
Your Ref: MCU/ECS/MWW

20/03/12

Dear Mr Wood

Re: Reporting fake and fraudulent Court Summons

Thank you for your letter of 15 September 2011 acknowledging my letters of 2 and 31 August 2011
and informing me that you had referred the matter to your Legal Services department.

Unless correspondence has gone astray, you have not contacted me further on this issue even
though you stated you would do so when you had received advice from your Legal Services on the
matter.

I have further evidence for you to consider regarding the council tax liability order hearing relating
to the summons document I enclosed in my 15 May 2011 letter.

Background information

The council sent out at least 3,359 summonses containing out of date information relating to
costs for obtaining a liability order.

The council had informed the Magistrates court by letter of its intention to increase summons
costs and that there were no longer costs of 25 for a liability order.

Neither the council nor Magistrates court noticed thousands of documents containing errors; this
raises serious concerns and brings into question whether there is any monitoring of liability order
applications.

It would follow that all 3,359 of these summonses would be void, and any court costs and
enforcement fees imposed as a result of the flawed documents would have been incurred
unlawfully

It is glaringly obvious that neither the council's court enforcement manager nor the Magistrates
courts' legal adviser have paid any attention to over 3,000 summonses issued.

A decision by magistrates whether to issue a summons pursuant to information laid is not

merely administrative and should involve the exercise of a judicial function.

If the Council notified the Court in writing of the increase in costs, it would also have notified them
that there were no longer costs of 25 added when the liability order was obtained. However, this
had not prevented more than 3,000 of these defective summonses being sent out unnoticed to
residents, stating that the council would apply for further costs of 25 if a liability order was
granted.

There clearly then, exists in these liability order applications, at least a dereliction of duty, if not a
serious case of maladministration when complaints made to the Magistrates' court, in the first
instance have not been checked by the council and secondly, the cases had not been reviewed by
the courts' legal adviser.

I have concerns additional to this, regarding North East Lincolnshire councils liability order
applications; however, I will leave you to consider this additional evidence for now and release
more information when you require it.

Could this matter be investigated with the utmost urgency and in the meantime please provide me
with a crime number so Im assured this matter is being looked into.

Yours sincerely

. .
 MAJOR CRIME UNIT
Economic Crime Section
PO Box 515
Protecting Communities, Targeting Criminals Hull
HU99FT

Your Ref:
Our Ref: MCUlECS/MWW

This matter is being dealt with by:

Detective Sergeant Wood
Mr . On Tel No: 01482 -- 578942
3' Facsimile: 01482 - 317147
Grimsby
DN~') nn I 23 April 2012
~-

----------
Dear Mr (~------------------

ALLEGED F:RAUDULENT COURT SUMMONS

Further to our previous correspondence I confirm that I have referred the case to our Legal
Services Unit.

They have researched your allegation and have advised me that the bulk procedure used by
the Council is completely legitimate and the summons has been properly issued.

This is not a matter for the Police. If you still wish to pursue this, please take it up with the
County Court.

Yours sincerely,

Michael W Wood
Detective Sergeant 1202