County court closures hitting poorest hardest

The closure of local county courts across Shropshire has resulted in journeys of up to two hours and expensive travel costs for people facing the threat of losing their homes, the Citizens Advice Bureau has revealed.

Courts in Shrewsbury, Ludlow and Oswestry were closed last year, and the majority of cases from those towns are now being heard in Telford.

Jackie Jeffrey, chief executive of the Shropshire CAB, said that while some hearings were taking place at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court rather than in Telford, the closures had resulted in difficulties for many of the people the organisation supports on issues such as mortgage repossessions and evictions.

"For clients who could previously access the courts locally, they now have to travel further in a rural county with poor and expensive public transport. A trip could take a client all day," said Mrs Jeffrey.

"For clients from the north and south of the county who rely on public transport they still have to get to Shrewsbury – and where the old Shrewsbury County Court was near the train and bus station, this means clients have another journey by bus or taxi or walk the one-and-a-half miles to the Magistrates Court near Shirehall.

"This means that there is an extra financial burden being placed on the client at a time when they are already in debt and facing the potential loss of their home."

She said that journey costs from Ludlow to Shrewsbury were £17.90 by train, while it is £6 to get to the town from Oswestry.

Mrs Jeffrey added that in cases where an application was being made to suspend a warrant, clients have to travel to Telford as it is the county administration base.

She said the journeys by public transport could take almost two hours from Ludlow, more than 90 minutes from Oswestry and over an hour from Whitchurch.

"Clients facing eviction may already have problems built in to their current and recent life experience that make it difficult for them to co-ordinate an application to the court at the best of times, without the added restriction of having to travel to Telford.

"Many leave it till the last moment to seek advice or do not realise how serious the situation is," she said.