Small Claims from the EU

abc123456

I was thinking of making a small claims against a small UK company for damage to goods which were sent by them to me in France where I live permanently. The amount of the claim would be less than £100.
I have checked the small claims advice websites and it says that the person who instigates the claim must have an address in England and Wales, which I do not, and do know anyone who has.
Is there any way round this?

DVardysShadow

abc123456 wrote: »

Is there any way round this?

Further EU integration.

bod1467

A bit of politics there.

alistair.long

You need your details on the form and the other persons details that sent you the item.

I am asuming you are starting the claim from France.

Googlies_2

abc123456 wrote: »

I was thinking of making a small claims against a small UK company for damage to goods which were sent by them to me in France where I live permanently. The amount of the claim would be less than £100.
I have checked the small claims advice websites and it says that the person who instigates the claim must have an address in England and Wales, which I do not, and do know anyone who has.
Is there any way round this?

You use the French legal system, presumably.

pendulum

UK solicitors could probably act for you, but would want a fortune in fees which you'd probably not be able to recover. Hardly worth it over £100.

abc123456

alistair.long wrote: »

You need your details on the form and the other persons details that sent you the item.

I am asuming you are starting the claim from France.

No I was looking into the possibility of doing it using the UK Small Claims procedure but as I say it specifies that the person making the claim must have an address in England.
I can use an address in Scotland but the company that I am in dispute with are in England.
Knowing the French system here, it would be far too complicated, and they probably would not entertain anything that occured in the UK.

bod1467

I think you can raise a SC action in Scotland on a company based in England.

http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/sheriff/small_claims/index.asp

savemoney

There was something on he radio the other day about this

hangon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0183t4b/You_and_Yours_12_12_2011/

40 minutes in

Optimist

There is a Cross Border Small Claims procedure. You would need to check with your local court in France how to initiate the process. I am not familiar with it but I seem to remember one difference from the normal small claims process is that there is a loser pays rule.

abc123456

I have been making further checks via Company House and find that the company I have the dispute with are showing a company status as "non trading" and "dormant".
Does this mean they should not be trading at all?