Court Claim - Britannia Parking/ BW Legal

KeithP

Did you file a Witness Statement and evidence?

On the Notice of Allocation from the court, the Notice that gave you your hearing date, did it say something like:

Each party must deliver to every other party and to the court office copies of all documents on which he intends to rely at the hearing no later than [ . . . ] [14 days before the hearing].

I imagine not following that instruction could be considered 'unreasonable behaviour'.

eshjie

Although, maybe the £88.50 is included in the £240 costs? I'm not quite sure how to make sense of it. If that's the case, then its slightly less painful..

Exact wording:

IT IS ORDERED THAT

1. Judgement for the Claimant against the Defendant for £88.59 (including interest)
2. The Defendant do pay the Claimants costs summarily assessed in the sum of £240.00, including £140 pursuant to CPR 27.14(2)(g), payable by 24 December 2019

Merry Xmas (Ok i make that bit up lol)

eshjie

No it did not say that. It had (I'm looking at it now) a note on the bottom of the page saying I needed to write to let them know at least 7 days in advance. It is possible the letter got there with 6... so maybe it is that. That's an expensive mistake on my end if so.

KeithP

Still no answer to this question:

Did you file a Witness Statement and evidence?

Turn that Notice of Allocation over. Look on the back.
Often it continues onto a second side.

But if you can demonstrate that you never received that instruction, you may be in with a chance.

On the other hand, as you didn't attend that hearing, I guess you have no appetite to progress this.

eshjie

Interesting...

I did not file anything other than my Defence, so I guess the answer is no. I did not know I needed to. I am looking at the allocation now and it doesn't say I need to do anything. The only thing it does talk about is the claimant needing to file a properly completed application or it will be struck out (which it obviously wasn't)

Nowhere does it tell me to file anything else, its a one-page document.

The reason I didn't attend in the first place is that I thought the total cost would be £250ish and it would have cost me more to take a day off of work (I'm paid daily). It didn't make financial sense. Id have taken the £250 on the chin, but £470 made it especially painful...

eshjie

Ok so it was £328.59 in the end, makes it less painful. Now I have had time to reflect, I do still think it was worth fighting them and not just giving in instantly. I have also learned lots about the small claims courts and its processes so it has not been a complete waste of time. £328 still works out better than missing a day from work, so financially - it has worked out alright.

Thanks to all that spent time and effort helping me out through the process. Although I was not successful, I really appreciate everything.

Coupon-mad

It is gutting to read that despite being here and getting advice to read the NEWBIES thread to know what to do when (where the links include a thread by bargepole that tells you about COURT PROCEDURES and how to prepare a WS and evidence and that you must attend if you want to win) you failed to file & serve any evidence at all, no WS, nothing, and also decided not to turn up to the hearing.

The max you would have paid had you lost, after following our advice, was £200.

This was not a forum assisted loss, sadly, you went so far off piste you got caught in an avalanche we would have protected you from, had you done the right things that the local court letter that allocated the hearing date, told you to do. We warn people they MUST attend hearings, and we show people WS and evidence examples galore, and the NEWBIES thread screams loudly: 'defence is not your only job'.

Having not followed our advice and not come back here during the process at all, you were pretty much bound to lose. You were a lamb to the slaughter and this makes me sad & frustrated for you. Completely avoidable. Your case was perfectly winnable.

eshjie

I agree with all you say. I think that from the moment I knew I was not going to go to court, the fight in me along with making sure I was doing exactly what I needed to do kind of fizzled out and I just got extremely complacent/didn't try hard enough.

I guess when it costs you more to go and court and win than it does to stay at home and lose, its easy to not try hard enough...