Reporting abuse, defamatory libel etc.

[pennymachines]

To report abuse, harassment, hate speech etc. against yourself or others in the Forum, send a description of the alleged offense, the username of the alleged offender, including page links, with your contact email address to the website administrator. I will endeavour to deal with complaints swiftly and fairly.

Defamatory libel: UK Legislation

Defamatory libel is a civil, not a police matter. It was removed from criminal English law by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.

A statement is only defamatory if its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the reputation of the complainant. In the case of a body which trades for profit, harm is not 'serious' unless it has caused or is likely to cause, serious financial loss.

Under Section 5 of the Defamation Act 1996 the limitation period to bringing a claim for defamation is 12 months from the date of the first publication of each post you are complaining about. You can still bring a claim for defamation, even if you have missed the limitation period of 12 months and your claim will not be automatically rejected. It is, however, open for the defendant to raise the limitation period as an issue, and the burden will then be on you, to request dispensation from the court.

Further information

Defamation Act 2013
Defamation (Operators of Websites) Regulations 2013
Defamation Act 2013 – Guidance and FAQs on Section 5 Regulations


Issuing a Notice of Complaint to the website administrator

If you believe you have been defamed in the Forum, you can report it online by completing and submitting the Notice of Complaint form using the button below. The form explains the information you should send.




How we process the complaint

Within 48 hours of submitting the form, you will receive an email to confirm we have received your notice of complaint and that we have contacted the person who posted the alleged defamatory material.

This person then has five days to respond to the notice of complaint. On receiving the response, you will be notified of the outcome within 48 hours.

If the poster does not want the alleged defamatory material removed, we will inform you of this and provide you with their name and postal address (if they have consented) so that you can contact them directly. If they do not consent to their details being shared, you will need to consider what further action you wish to take, including whether to seek a court order for disclosure. You may wish to take legal advice before taking any further steps.

If the poster does not reply within five days, the Forum administrator will remove the post.

If the material is removed and is then reposted, you will need to report it using the form above. To help us deal with the issue you need to inform us of your previous notice of complaint.