County Court Claim

mamangam

Please keep us updated on what happned at the court hearing.

mercuteio

mamangam wrote: »

Please keep us updated on what happned at the court hearing.

Will do!

Does anyone have any advice on anything in particular I should be doing between now and the court hearing to prepare?

Coupon-mad

Search the forum for hearing tips video and prepare your own papers including your wage slip to claim costs, and proof of emailing or sending your WS, costs schedule, evidence and case law etc. to the claimant (as they sometimes send a rep who pretends they 'never received it').

Be ready to say that the Consumer Rights Act para 71 provides for a duty on the court to consider Schedule 2 (terms with may be unfair, and that's likely to involve paras 6, 10 and 14 of that Schedule, and possibly para 18 as well). The Court must consider Schedule 2 of the CRA and the prominence and transparency of the contract, even if the Defendant consumer never raises it...but you have!

Go at least half an hour early, to get through security, get some water in the waiting room and to get a loo break if needed. Pay for more than enough hours parking and claim that cost as well as loss of leave and travel costs.

mercuteio

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Search the forum for hearing tips video and prepare your own papers including your wage slip to claim costs, and proof of emailing or sending your WS, costs schedule, evidence and case law etc. to the claimant (as they sometimes send a rep who pretends they 'never received it').

Be ready to say that the Consumer Rights Act para 71 provides for a duty on the court to consider Schedule 2 (terms with may be unfair, and that's likely to involve paras 6, 10 and 14 of that Schedule, and possibly para 18 as well). The Court must consider Schedule 2 of the CRA and the prominence and transparency of the contract, even if the Defendant consumer never raises it...but you have!

Go at least half an hour early, to get through security, get some water in the waiting room and to get a loo break if needed. Pay for more than enough hours parking and claim that cost as well as loss of leave and travel costs.

Great - thanks CM! Have had a look at the hearing video (I think you meant the YouTube video from the Ministry of Justice, right?) and that's actually very helpful. Will look at everything else you've mentioned too. I guess it would be sensible to take a full copy of the Consumer Rights Act with me to point to.

In fact, from the sounds of things, it would be sensible to take copies of everything in full (Beavis case, POFA, CRA etc)? I've seen mentions of bringing three copies of everything, so, unless I'm mistaken, the game plan is to bring in several hundred pages of evidence, right? In the actual witness exhibits, I just copied the specific pages that I needed of the Beavis case etc, but not the full things. But would it be safe to say bring in three copies of the full versions of all hearings/acts etc that I've referenced?

Umkomaas

In fact, from the sounds of things, it would be sensible to take copies of everything in full (Beavis case, POFA, CRA etc)

You won't need full copies of everything. Just the relevant pages.

The Beavis case is amalgamated with the Cavendish Square Holdings v El Makdessi and runs to 124 pages.

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 is 228 pages long and covers all sorts of issues of absolutely no relevance to private parking.

The CRA - 150 pages of it.

In total, 502 pages 95% of which is totally irrelevant. While many PPCs work on the basis on 'Never mind the quality, feel the width', you don't need to.

mercuteio

Umkomaas wrote: »

You won't need full copies of everything. Just the relevant pages.

The Beavis case is amalgamated with the Cavendish Square Holdings v El Makdessi and runs to 124 pages.

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 is 228 pages long and covers all sorts of issues of absolutely no relevance to private parking.

The CRA - 150 pages of it.

In total, 502 pages 95% of which is totally irrelevant. While many PPCs work on the basis on 'Never mind the quality, feel the width', you don't need to.

Phew!! Thanks Umkomaas!!

I was a bit worried about turning up with 1500 pages of stuff!

Umkomaas

mercuteio wrote: »

Phew!! Thanks Umkomaas!!

I was a bit worried about turning up with 1500 pages of stuff!

So would the rain forest!

mercuteio

Hola,

So then, court date is a few days before Christmas. I received an offer of settlement from VCS today - "We are confident that we have a strong case against you and we are entitled to recover the outstanding Parking Charge Notice and any additional costs, as set out in the Particulars of Claim. However, we are mindful that under the Civil Procedure Rules litigants are expected to try to resolve their disputes wherever possible. Therefore, we are willing to accept a reduced settlement charge of £125 payable within 14 days from the date of this letter. This offer is made on a without prejudice basis".

So, I am not about to settle by any means, least not for an offer of £125. However, I do have a couple of questions:

1) Do they automatically send out settlement offers to everyone, or is this only if they really think they're going to lose?

2) They've said if I don't settle then "we will continue with our Claim for the full amount claimed and bring this letter to the Courts' [sic] attention upon the question of costs". What does this mean, and why would this letter have a bearing on costs?

3) Should I respond?

4) Does this change anything to do with how I should approach the court hearing, or do I just crack on as planned?

Many thanks, all!

Umkomaas

You could respond saying you'd be happy to forward a 'drop hands' offer if they will pay your wasted costs to date - (maybe £100) - otherwise you'll be happy to meet them in court. That will flush them out.

Alternatively, you could simply ignore them and see where it goes.

They don't send this 'offer' to everyone, but we've seen enough of them evolve into a discontinuation to recognise they might be developing cold feet.

But like all this crap, nothing can be guaranteed, one way or the other.

mercuteio

Umkomaas wrote: »

You could respond saying you'd be happy to forward a 'drop hands' offer if they will pay your wasted costs to date - (maybe £100) - otherwise you'll be happy to meet them in court. That will flush them out.

Alternatively, you could simply ignore them and see where it goes.

They don't send this 'offer' to everyone, but we've seen enough of them evolve into a discontinuation to recognise they might be developing cold feet.

But like all this crap, nothing can be guaranteed, one way or the other.

Ooh, this is a delicious way of responding - thanks Umkomaas!

mercuteio wrote: »

2) They've said if I don't settle then "we will continue with our Claim for the full amount claimed and bring this letter to the Courts' [sic] attention upon the question of costs". What does this mean, and why would this letter have a bearing on costs?

Regarding my second question above, does anyone have any thoughts? I don’t really understand what impact my not settling would have on costs, and therefore why they’re specifically mentioning this.

Thanks all.