Urgent help please VCS Claim form received

Snakes_Belly

PrettyKittyKat wrote: »

Is it typical for cases to be rescheduled at the moment? We have our case on 11th April and my husband is taking the day off work to go, which means a days lost earnings. We won't be impressed if it's then rescheduled... wonder whether we should try for it to be heard in our absence but concerned that will mean we loose!

I don't know about other courts but on the afternoon that I attended the other case that was being heard had already been rescheduled three times and this was the fourth time. What seems to happen is that they book in more on the basis that a number of them will settle before they get to court or even on the day. On the day of my hearing no one had settled before.

The representative for the Claimant still got paid so to keep rescheduling costs the PPC every time as they have to pay their representative.

Bellaandme

Hi all

Received the judgement this morning. Unfortunately we lost. We have to pay Claimant £160, court fees of £50 and £8.53 interest. Total £218.53.

Not even sure if any of the evidence I sent was looked at as there is no info enclosed regarding how the decision was reached. Is there a way to get access to the transcripts?

Umkomaas

Bellaandme wrote: »

Hi all

Received the judgement this morning. Unfortunately we lost. We have to pay Claimant £160, court fees of £50 and £8.53 interest. Total £218.53.

Not even sure if any of the evidence I sent was looked at as there is no info enclosed regarding how the decision was reached. Is there a way to get access to the transcripts?

Sorry to hear that, but IMO its one of the inherent risks of not attending the hearing. TPSTwats had a similar outcome the other day after not attending his hearing.

Transcripts cost money, but as you weren’t there to respond to anything said/asked (and especially if the PPC didn’t field a rep either) then there won’t have been much to transcribe.

You will get a written confirmation of the judgment in due course, but it won’t go into any detail about the reason(s) why the decision was reached.

Coupon-mad

Bellaandme wrote: »

Hi all

Received the judgement this morning. Unfortunately we lost. We have to pay Claimant £160, court fees of £50 and £8.53 interest. Total £218.53.

Not even sure if any of the evidence I sent was looked at as there is no info enclosed regarding how the decision was reached. Is there a way to get access to the transcripts?

The second cautionary tale today, as to why people MUST attend hearings if they want to be likely to win.

As Umkomaas says, TPSTwats also went against our clear advice and lost a paper hearing and had to pay more than if he'd stood there in person and lost.

So did you (got ordered top pay MORE than you would have done, had you been there to point out the added costs are unrecoverable).

In person, you'd have had every chance of a win.

So sorry to read this.

I hope newbies read this and realise why our advice is to attend a hearing.

Two losses by people not following forum advice for whatever reason.

Snakes_Belly

I am sorry to hear that Bella. The judge wanted to hear my case on papers but I refused. This was partly because I felt that I wanted to put my case forward in the best way that I could and because the car park is very ambiguous and needs some clarification which plans and photo's alone would not be sufficient.

I can understand that if you are working that you have to weigh this up against losing a days pay.

Bellaandme

It is a disappointing result, particularly as I spent such a lot of time on the WS and SA, and i'll never know if the Judge even looked at it.

I assume there is no way to check that everything we sent was passed to the Judge, including evidence and notification of non attendance due to work commitments? Are transcripts expensive? It was a comment above about compensation for late submission of evidence that made me wonder if there may have been a miscommunication at court?

Regardless of the disappointing outcome, i'm still glad that we took it all the way as I have learned so much. I really appreciate the advice and support from all who took the time to contribute.

Snakes_Belly

Bellaandme wrote: »

Regardless of the disappointing outcome, i'm still glad that we took it all the way as I have learned so much. I really appreciate the advice and support from all who took the time to contribute.

I think that it will make you sharper in dealing with other scenarios.

Coupon-mad

Transcripts are not cheap, and you'd have to ask for the judgment to be transcribed per word by a company. Maybe £100?

Depends on the hearing, maybe the other side turned up and talked a lot.

PrettyKittyKat

Umkomaas wrote: »

I’m not doubting your response, but often in private parking cases many posters confuse Northampton County Court Bulk Centre (from where the court papers emanate) with Nottingham County Court.

Is Nottingham your actual nearest county court?

Sorry to ask this, but too many posters have confused Northampton with Nottingham - so worth a quick check with you.

Yes it is definitely Nottingham. It got moved from Northhampton to Nottingham as this is our local court.

PrettyKittyKat

Sorry to hear that you lost Bellaandme, and there is little information on why and you spent so much time on your submissions.