Obtaining identification for persons being served is not a requirement, nor a practicality when process serving in most instances, therefore process servers are usually reliant on the honesty of the person being served to accurately confirm their identity when service is effected.
Clearly, when a person denies their identity, and we have reason to believe that person is the subject we are looking for, it is common for enquiries to be made of neighbours, or internet searches conducted to locate a photograph of the respondent to assist with identification, but sometimes respondents for service can also catch themselves out.
In November 2023 we were instructed with the service of a Statutory Demand upon a company whose business activity meant their registered office address was located at an aeroplane hangar. As you can imagine, security at the site was high. On approach the agent found the gates accessing the hangar to be closed and locked. A male approached the gates of the hangar, confirming the business traded at the address, and that he was authorised to accept service of the Demand, but declined to confirm his position within the company. He gave his name, but this was not a name that was known to the agent to be associated to the company, and the agent had a hunch that the male had given an incorrect name.
At that moment, the agent noticed the male was wearing an identification badge around his neck, showing his full name, together with photographic identification confirming it was definitely his ID. The agent advised the male he believed he had given a false name. The male immediately denied this, querying why the agent would dare to suggest such a thing. The agent pointed to the ID around his neck, saying ‘because your ID says your name is XXX, and that means you are a director of the company’.
Swearing at the agent at the fact he had been ‘caught out’, the director walked away with the paperwork.
Whether the plan was to then deny a male by the fictious name worked for the company, and therefore dispute service of the Demand, or whether the director simply didn’t want to admit his role within the company, we will never know!