An Australian mother was left bewildered after receiving a brutal $1,715 fine when she returned home from a trip abroad.
The woman found a notice from Service NSW asking her to pay a fine overdue by October 9 for failing to attend jury duty in a Sydney court case in May.
But the woman claimed she had no idea she had been summoned.
“I did not receive this before the October 9 deadline. However, I have also never seen the May 28 jury notice or any other notice since,” he wrote on social media.
“So I’m in complete and utter shock.”
She asked other local mothers how she could “get rid” of the fine.
The woman added that she had not changed her address in “decades” and that she checks her email every day.
‘The only email I have received on the matter is this notice of enforcement of fine upon return from abroad. It’s very strange. How can I prove that I never received the original notice?
Woman given hefty fine notice upon returning to Australia from overseas
Other Sydneysiders said they had also unknowingly made the same mistake before.
One mother even said she never knew she owed money until she went to pay a separate bill on the Service NSW website, reported Yahoo News.
“I had never received or seen a notice about jury service or the associated fine,” he said.
Other mothers said Service NSW had been sympathetic to them in similar circumstances and urged the woman to call the department.
‘This happened to me a couple of months ago. Just call them and explain what happened. “They are very understanding,” he said.
‘This happened to me in the past. “I wasn’t traveling and I was at the same address, I just didn’t get the notice for jury duty,” another said.
‘So I simply wrote to them to explain the reason for not attending. They waived my fine.
Another said she had simply never received a notice for jury duty before a ticket arrived in the mail.
The woman was worried that she would be fined for not attending a jury duty summons that she never received (file image)
‘I only wrote to them to explain the reason why I did not attend. They took away my fine,” he said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Service NSW for comment.
Fines for failing to attend mandatory jury service in New South Wales can be up to $2,200 if Service NSW rejects a person’s plea.
However, recipients can take the disagreement to a local court magistrate.
Fines can be reviewed for several reasons.
If the recipient attended the service, had not received prior notice from the New South Wales Sheriff’s Office, or had a legitimate reason for not attending, their fine may be reviewed.
