The answer to the question that forms the title of this week’s post is a definite “yes” – and in fact the Officer who arrests you, as they will almost certainly be doing so in accordance with an arrest warrant issued by the Court (following your non-appearance) will almost certainly have immunity from being sued by you under the archaic provisions of the Constables Protection Act 1750.

However, as I will go on to explain below, through the example of one of my recently settled cases, that does not mean that you are not entitled to the compensation for the injustice that you have suffered. 

Content Authenticity Statement

100% of this week’s blog post was generated by me, the human.

The Problem: A Court Summons goes to the Wrong Address

In the summer of 2025, my client Stuart was arrested by North Wales Police, after having been involved in a road traffic collision.

He cooperated with the subsequent Police enquires, including providing a blood sample, confirming his current address and attending a voluntary interview at Denbigh Police Station.

Stuart was subsequently summonsed to attend Llandudno Magistrates Court in December. 

Notwithstanding the fact that he had provided his current address to the Police, the Summons was sent to an old address at which my client had not lived for around 15 years. 

Blissfully unaware of the Summons, therefore, Stuart went about his daily life until one day in late January 2026 when two Merseyside Police Officers (the Force local to Stuart’s home address) arrived at his house and arrested him for failing to attend the Hearing in December.

As is always the case is such scenarios, the arresting Officers ignored Stuart’s protestations of innocence – they were acting under a warrant issued by the Magistrates Court for Stuart’s failure to appear, and they were not personally under any duty to investigate the circumstances of the issuance of that warrant. 

Stuart was then detained overnight in Police custody before being taken before Liverpool Magistrates Court in the morning.

At the Court, Stuart did plead guilty to the original motoring offence, for which he received a non-custodial sentence – but was left with a very legitimate grievance about his arrest and detention in Police cells, none of which would have been necessary had he received proper notice of the original Magistrates Court date. 

The Remedy: Instruct the Expert Police Claims Solicitor

A few days after his Court appearance, Stuart, recognising my expertise as a solicitor who has successfully sued all of the Police Forces of England and Wales, instructed me to act on his behalf on a ‘no win no fee basis’.

My investigations revealed that after Stuart had attended his voluntary interview with North Wales Police following the road traffic collision, PC Lunt had issued a Postal Requisition (i.e Summons) for Stuart to attend Llandudno Magistrates, but the address on the Postal Requisition form had “auto-populated” as Stuart’s old address – where he had not, in fact, lived since he was a teenager.  The Postal Requisition (Summons) was then sent to Stuart’s former address, and of course he never received it, hence the subsequent trouble that unfolded as I have described above.

Here, then, is a perfect example of how technology old (the postal service) and new (the ‘auto-population’ of personal details in electronic forms) can combine to create the type of ‘uber admin error’ that causes a person to be taken from their home address and deprived of their liberty, spending a miserable night in Police cells. Posted letters do not, of course, have the ‘undelivered’ bounce back message that a sender receives when an incorrect email address is used; whilst important legal forms that do not require manual imputing of all of the relevant information are the lazy Police Officers short cut to loss of liberty.  Clearly, here, the Officer completing the Postal Requisition should have checked the ‘auto-populate’ address she was offered for Stuart, against the information that he had actually provided and confirmed at the time of his arrest and subsequent interview, but she failed to do so, and thereby effectively condemned Stuart to arrest.

Some things never change; regardless of the technology we use, there is always room for human error.

The Result: Significant Damages, Promptly Recovered

Notwithstanding the fact that Merseyside Police Officers who actually arrested and detained Stuart would be able to claim that they were acting under the legal ‘shield’ of a Magistrates Court warrant, the negligence of PC Lunt which had led to the sending of the Summons to the wrong address in the first place, made North Wales Police liable for what happened to my client, as being a breach of both the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Human Rights Act 1998.  Therefore, despite the fact that they themselves had neither arrested nor detained Stuart in January, North Wales Police were liable for his loss of liberty, and after receipt of my detailed letter of claim on Stuart’s behalf they promptly agreed to meet his fair demands for compensation. 

I am pleased to report in the space of just 4 months, I have secured for Stuart damages of £7,700, plus his legal costs. 

Compensation for Arrest Following a Court Summons Sent to the Wrong Address

If you’ve been arrested because a Police or Court error sent your Summons through the wrong door, then come knocking on mine –  and I’ll give you the right advice and representation.

Expert Legal Help for Wrongful Arrest and Police Negligence Claims

You can read here some of the stories about the many other clients for whom I have won significant damages in this or similar scenarios –

• Postal Summons by Surrey Police error leads to man’s wrongful arrest and pay out of £6,500 compensation and costs
• Going Postal? £12K Compensation For Wrongful Arrest After Court Summons Sent to Wrong Address
• £20,000 Damages for Postal Summons Address Error Arrest
• Postal Requisition error leads to man’s wrongful arrest and pay out of £9000 compensation and costs
• Police Negligence: Postal Charge Sent To the Wrong Address
• How I helped a client claim compensation after a postal summons error
• Gwent Police Agree to Pay £8,000 Damages After Court Summons goes to Wrong Address
• Arrested for Failing to Attend a Court Hearing You Knew Nothing About?

My client’s name has been changed.

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Contact the Expert Police Misconduct Solicitor

Iain Gould is a solicitor specialising in complaints, claims and civil actions against the Police. With over 30 years of experience and a national reputation, he has successfully sued all 43 police forces in England and Wales challenging abuse of power and securing rightful compensation.