Excel parking charge notice

Loadsofchildren123

http://www.9parkplace.co.uk/our-members/david-gareth-evans/

dufflers

I did find that profile, I hope it is him if so.
My only worry is that on courtserve live listings it says michael evans? I can't find any information on that name though
I really appreciate you looking into this for me, thank you

Loadsofchildren123

Oops, just saw you had Michael Evans, false alarm re Gareth Evans, will look him up now

Coupon-mad

Make sure your costs are ''reserved'' if he won't actually order them refunded. Use that word, if you don't ask then you won't get them later.

Loadsofchildren123 is a solicitor, so heed her advice & local(ish) insight.

Loadsofchildren123

https://www.redkitelaw.co.uk/site/people/profile/michaelevans

So this guy is much older and he's a personal injury specialist and a solicitor.

Generally speaking, Deputy DJs are more junior, less experienced and more careful to listen to all the arguments. But I don't know this DDJ.

dufflers

I will, absolutely. Thank you both

dufflers

Just got back from the hearing, wanted to give a quick update.

I was in the court waiting area when I was met by a young woman who was a legal rep for excel, they apparently hadn't received my draft order/WS etc and she wanted to see it, I asked for theirs in return having received nothing for 7 months..
Only got to see a couple of pages as we were called into the hearing room, but one thing i did notice was that they had a "letter of authority" from the landowner, not a copy of the contract. I wonder if I might be able to use that in future.

So the judge ordered the set aside pretty much as soon as I showed that they had been aware of my previous address, the legal rep had nothing to counter it as she had only been given the details fo the original claim and apparently wasn't aware that this was a set aside hearing. DJ actually laughed at her and told them he'd be ordering the set aside based on my evidence.

He didn't award costs because he said he wouldn't make that judgement until the claim hearing, I remembered to ask for costs to be reserved and he allowed it, he told me as long as i could prove I told BW about moving address he would award me the £255, I have my original email and a letter from BW to my current address so that should be easy.

I'm not quite sure on the next steps other than to prep my main defence now, focussing on the unreasonable behaviour of sending a claim to an old address?

I did add to the draft order that if Excel drop the claim (knowing that they will at least be down £255 from the set aside) that they should cover those costs, but it wasn't mentioned at the hearing so will this still apply?

DJ also said that excel would have a very difficult time arguing this in court, that he would recommend at least 1.5 hours for the next hearing as it could be a tough one to judge.. So I feel as though I have the upper hand at this point, but don't really fancy a lengthy argument over essentially contract law..

What do you guys think? Should I get that defence fleshed out?

Loadsofchildren123

If excel drop the claim, the issue of costs of today's application is still "live". The court will overlook that, so if you get a notice of discontinuance, you'll have to write in to the court and make a costs application on paper. You'd be best to address that to the same judge as today. Make a written or typed note of the hearing to attach to that letter if it becomes necessary, to remind him what he said about the costs.

dufflers

Ok, the DJ seemed pretty reasonable and even talked me through the next stages based on my clearly limited knowledge of the procedure, I'll keep that in mind if they play games.

I'm looking at defences now to get a few reviews on it all, do you think the landowner authority is the way to go or should I focus mainly on their unreasonable behaviour sine the DJ agreed with me that it was out of order?

Loadsofchildren123

I'd also make the point when the time comes about their rep not even knowing it was a set aside, and where you clearly had grounds they should have consented to it and not defended it, which increased your costs.

In fact, I'd write to them now to put them on notice you'll be asking for not only the set aside fee but also all of your costs at the LiP rate, pursuant to CPR 27.14(2)(g), a) because you won, b) because you can prove that you notified BWL of your address (and the DDJ specifically said that if you could demonstrate this then you would be awarded costs) and c) because they could clearly have consented to a set aside without the need for a hearing, but didn't, such conduct was entirely unreasonable and it was compounded by the fact that their representative at today's hearing did not have any of the paperwork relating to the application and was not even aware that it was a set aside hearing and not a substantive hearing.

Also say how you were shown a document by the rep outside court but not given a copy, describe what it was and ask for a copy.