An Aussie mum has been left bewildered after copping a brutal $1,715 fine when she returned home from an overseas trip.
The woman found a notice from Service NSW requesting she pay an overdue penalty by October 9 for her failure to attend jury duty for a Sydney court case in May.
But the woman claimed she had no idea she’d been summoned.
‘I didn’t get this by the due date of October 9. However, I have also never seen the jury notice for May 28 nor any other notices since,’ she wrote on social media.
‘So I’m in total and absolute shock.’
She asked other local mums how she could ‘ditch’ the fine.
The woman added she hadn’t changed her address in ‘decades’, and that she checks her mail every day.
‘The only mail I’ve received on the matter at all is this fine enforcement notice on return from overseas. It’s very strange. How can I prove I never received the original notice?’
A woman received a notice for a hefty fine upon arriving back to Australia from overseas
Other Sydneysiders said they had also unknowingly made the same error 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 regarding jury duty or the associated fine,’ she claimed.
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. You just call them and explain what happened. They are very understanding,’ she said.
‘This happened to me in the past. I wasn’t travelling and have been in the same address, just simply didn’t receive the notice to serve jury duty,’ another said.
‘So I just wrote to them to explain my reason of not attending. They waived my fine.’
Another said she had simply never received a notice to serve jury duty before a fine came in the mail.
The woman worried she’d be fined for not attending a jury duty call-up she never received (stock image)
‘I just wrote to them to explain my reason (for) not attending. They waived my fine,’ she said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Service NSW for comment.
Fines for failing to attend mandatory jury service in New South Wales can run as high as $2,200, if a person’s reason for it is refused by Service NSW.
However, recipients can escalate the disagreement to a magistrate in a local court.
Fines can be reviewed on a number of grounds.
If the recipient did attend the service, hadn’t received previous notices from the NSW Sheriff’s office, or had a legitimate reason for non-attendance, they can have their fine reviewed.
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