[daotoad]

I don't know about UK jurisprudence, but in the US, it should have been easy to file a continuance on the hearing, so it could be rescheduled to a later date.

If it's the same, then she just needed to send a letter to the court outlining the steps she had gone through, and was working on to get documentation for the case. Depending on jurisdiction, she may have had to appear before a judge to make the request.

It's up to the judge, of course, but in 99% of the cases, if you have a reasonable request, then you'll get your continuance.

[slededit]

They later quashed it, so she got it cleared up eventually. But I imagine this would have been resolved much quicker if she just showed up in the first place.