UK Car Park Management ignoring invoice rejection

Coupon-mad

Now my questions is: why would they want to give me a refund and take this to court given I've already paid them?

Because their first duty is to the Court, and the Court has ordered that the mistaken judgment be set aside. Therefore they have actually done the right thing.

Maybe they are hoping you say 'can't be bothered, keep it' (please don't!). Contact them and ask for a cheque to be posted to you within 7 days.

If I go to court and somehow lose, will the costs to me be more? I.e. can they add further costs to the claim?

No, not unless you are found to have behaved wholly vexatiously and unreasonably, e.g. as was found by the Judge, when admonishing the reportedly aggressive lay rep in the UHW Nurses case, which led to costs being added (the transcript is on this forum, posted by bargepole, as proof of that).

Anyway no, only 1% of people here report a loss and they usually pay about £150 - £200, which is less than claimed in most cases, due to the fact Gladstones artificially add an unjustified £60 'indemnity' costs for no good reason whatsoever.

c1223

OK great, I'll get in touch with them ASAP and ask for a cheque.

I don't feel I have "behaved wholly vexatiously and unreasonably". Although the links to the transcripts I found for that case seemed to be dead. Do you have a copy anywhere that I can have a read of?

Umkomaas

c1223 wrote: »

OK great, I'll get in touch with them ASAP and ask for a cheque.

I don't feel I have "behaved wholly vexatiously and unreasonably". Although the links to the transcripts I found for that case seemed to be dead. Do you have a copy anywhere that I can have a read of?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5728064/indigo-cardiff-nurses-case-permission-to-appeal-refused

c1223

Thanks, that's the link I found. Seems that the transcript links are dead.

KeithP

Both those onedrive links in the first post on that thread work fine for me.
The first one being 16 pages and the second being 81 pages.

Coupon-mad

They work for me and are well worth reading, for what NOT to do in Court, and why NOT to try to use a lay rep...unless the lay rep is bargepole or lamilad.

c1223

Weird glitch with OneDrive then. Seems to work now. I've read the short one. The longer one is definitely one for the train tomorrow. The transcription is quite hard to read when there's several people in conversation.

From the first one, where does the 28% come from:

Now, if we look at what that means in terms of the outcome on costs, given that
there were seven issues, if the Court were to make this finding, the Court would
then be looking at 28%, on my maths, of the Claimant’s costs being sought against
the Defendants

Furthermore, to claim for costs pursuant to CPR 27.14(g), what is the definition of " a party who has behaved unreasonably"?

Finally, apart from this particular case, are there any other examples on the forum of anyone having to pay costs to the claimant? Hypothetically, what costs would one expect to pay for £250 claim? Several hours of band B legal costs?

Coupon-mad

apart from this particular case, are there any other examples on the forum of anyone having to pay costs to the claimant?

None.

You have to be an aggressive idiot to be deemed wholly unreasonable & vexatious.

Or a deluded, ill prepared, ranty rent a mouth 'waste of court time', like here:

https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/09/open-university-law-student-fails-in-bid-to-sue-six-classmates-over-defamatory-forum-comments/

Hypothetically, what costs would one expect to pay for £250 claim? Several hours of band B legal costs?

Nothing in small claims, even if you lost.

Maybe £50 solicitors costs if the Judge agreed. A big ''if'' as it's challengeable.

So people who lose, pay about £175 all told (£100 PCN, then about £75 in court fees, interest, maybe solicitors fees if you are not good at arguing they were never incurred because Gladstones do the work free for their members).

The claim is (ostensibly) £250 but they will not get £250. It's already inflated/made up, hence why to fight it, because even a lost case Defendant pays less!

Defending a claim is not unreasonable behaviour and a Judge will cut people some slack when they are dragged into a case on the small claims track.

c1223

Thanks Coupon-mad. The LegalCheek story was a good read. Good to get some clarification on the matter!

Anyhow, I received a "Notice of Transfer of Proceedings" so it's going to the next stage. How long usually before I can or should expect a "Notice of Allocation"? Obviously I don't want to miss it. Having followed bargepole's advice in this thread, the case is listed in my home court.

In the mean time, is there anything I should be doing? Is my witness statement essentially my defence but expanded with my evidence etc...? Should I be looking to add further information?

What's the difference (or requirement) for a skeleton argument? I'm not entirely sure there will be any new/different information contained within it.

Also, any suggestions how I can go about getting the information concerned with the below:

IamEmanresu wrote: »

This may be a "self-ticketing" site. The contract should show who hired UKCPM and may not be someone with the authority to hire UKCPM (there are a lot of dodgy UKCPM contracts out there). You should start checking who owns/occupies the site so you can challenge later.

Coupon-mad

How long usually before I can or should expect a "Notice of Allocation"? Obviously I don't want to miss it.

A month or two, I expect.

Is my witness statement essentially my defence but expanded with my evidence etc...?

Yes but written in a more natural style, in the first person, telling the story of what happened, what the signs were like, and all other issues including pulling apart their WS, if it arrives in time for you to do that.

What's the difference (or requirement) for a skeleton argument?

Not a requirement but you could use it as your 'defence summary' crib sheet. Write your defence points in logical bullet points on one sheet, so that if the Judge says ''Right then, c1223, I'd like to start by both parties telling me what you see as your main points of defence/dispute?'' you are not caught out by your thick bundle of everything and go blank!

Also, any suggestions how I can go about getting the information concerned with the below:

Originally Posted by IamEmanresu
This may be a "self-ticketing" site. The contract should show who hired UKCPM and may not be someone with the authority to hire UKCPM (there are a lot of dodgy UKCPM contracts out there). You should start checking who owns/occupies the site so you can challenge later.

Ask the Council who pays the non-domestic rates, it's public information.