Court hearing - Gladstones Solicitors - P4Parking

nosferatu1001

No, they cannot add those on

CPR27.14 tells you exactly what you CAN claim on the small claims track - some judges dont know about the money for loss of leave OR pay, capped at £95. So have a read of it.

Nameless

Just got out of court.

I was never going to win this. The judge didnt care about any technicalities. It accepted the witness statement even though it was submitted late.

Didnt accept non relevance of previous pcns. More importantly, apparently i didnt mention in my defence about having a valid permit.

Judged that he believes it was tampered.

Long story short, wanted to charge £160 plus £25 fees and £50 for solicitors. With help from you guys, got that reduced to £100 and the court fees £25. It was an experience though.

I was so nervous couldnt even read my notes properly.

Thanks for all your help guys, i wouldve been out of pocket a lot more if it werent for u guys.

DoaM

Once you've calmed down and had time to think clearly, it would be helpful (perhaps cathartic) to write a more-detailed court report. Whilst it probably won't help you directly (except perhaps emotionally), it may help others to be better prepared for the DJ bingo, and it might let others here spot any obvious failings by the judge. (Not that it'll necessarily help you now).

Nameless

DoaM wrote: »

Once you've calmed down and had time to think clearly, it would be helpful (perhaps cathartic) to write a more-detailed court report. Whilst it probably won't help you directly (except perhaps emotionally), it may help others to be better prepared for the DJ bingo, and it might let others here spot any obvious failings by the judge. (Not that it'll necessarily help you now).

Yeh will do, but tbh not much was said, the judge didnt wanna hear too many points. He ultimately said, either you coming down the route of ‘you had a valid permit’ or ‘you dont think it was a valid contract’.

helpforDan

Oh Dear

DJ Bingo - seems like the defence did not state you had a valid permit?

Coupon-mad

Nameless wrote: »

Yeh will do, but tbh not much was said, the judge didnt wanna hear too many points. He ultimately said, either you coming down the route of ‘you had a valid permit’ or ‘you dont think it was a valid contract’.

Which court and which Judge? So sorry to hear this, sometimes Judges are decided on how they feel about a case, before you even get in the room.

With help from you guys, got that reduced to £100 and the court fees £25.

That's a lot better than you would have got by the sound of it, from this Judge, if you'd not come here.

Well done for fighting it and costing them a lot more than it cost you!

Your defence wasn't assisted by the forum was it? I looked back and found you were already at WS stage when you came back, and before that it was in 2014 when you should have got a POPLA code & killed it off:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/65099201#Comment_65099201

At least you are only paying £25 more than the PCN. Looks like the BPA failed you though, when you complained.

[Deleted User]

Trying to argue points not in the defence is a big problem. Regrettably that'd be enough to shut you down.

It's why I always ask forumites to tell the story in their statement and all facts (not just the stock technical arguments) in the defence.

Still, you trimmed £60 off what they had sought and excluded bolt on advocates fees.

Nameless

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Which court and which Judge? So sorry to hear this, sometimes Judges are decided on how they feel about a case, before you even get in the room.

That's a lot better than you would have got by the sound of it, from this Judge, if you'd not come here.

Well done for fighting it and costing them a lot more than it cost you!

Your defence wasn't assisted by the forum was it? I looked back and found you were already at WS stage when you came back, and before that it was in 2014 when you should have got a POPLA code & killed it off:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/65099201#Comment_65099201

At least you are only paying £25 more than the PCN. Looks like the BPA failed you though, when you complained.

It was Judge Thomas in the Shoreditch county court. The claimant's solicitor had no idea what he was talking about, I was more well versed with the law than he was. However, he had the judge on his side this time. The solicitor clearly lied about how permits are issued and made up some nonsense, and the judge caught him talking rubbish, but still didnt throw it out. He tried to say that visitors permits are picked up from the office and the office fills it up LMAO - I said to the judge thats impossible, the office is hardly manned, and the permits are sent by post.

You are right, I lost this case due to my fault - I did not come here to get help in preparing my defence. I was under pressure at work in that period and just managed to get the defence in on time.

The judge wanted to cut to the chase, he straight away said, this is a simple case, lots have been mentioned, what are the main points. I didn't get a chance to play it out as I had planned, and the irrelevant evidence of previous PCNs played on the judges mind without doubt.

The 2014 one was killed off with support on this forum.

Definitely lucky that I came here, as the judge didn't have scooby about the CPR of small claim courts in terms of fees - they wanted to add £60, £25, and £50 solicitor fees and interest. The judge wanted to award when I objected, and said I want break down of what the £60 is about and under CPR no legal fees or debt recovery can be charged. So the judge, said will only award £100 and the £25 court fees, and even removed the interest, as the solicitor was being cheeky and wanted to add £50 solicitor fees.

Thanks again for all your help guys.

Nameless

Johnersh wrote: »

Trying to argue points not in the defence is a big problem. Regrettably that'd be enough to shut you down.

It's why I always ask forumites to tell the story in their statement and all facts (not just the stock technical arguments) in the defence.

Still, you trimmed £60 off what they had sought and excluded bolt on advocates fees.

Yes you are right, lesson learnt, if not in defence, the judge aint having any of it.

Coupon-mad

Definitely lucky that I came here, as the judge didn't have scooby about the CPR of small claim courts in terms of fees - they wanted to add £60, £25, and £50 solicitor fees and interest. The judge wanted to award when I objected, and said I want break down of what the £60 is about and under CPR no legal fees or debt recovery can be charged. So the judge, said will only award £100 and the £25 court fees, and even removed the interest, as the solicitor was being cheeky and wanted to add £50 solicitor fees.

That is good at least.

Shocking that the Judge was happy to allow the late evidence they ambushed you wish, and I expect the rep wasn't even a solicitor either (no right of audience...).