Victory over One Parking Solution / DCB Legal

KeithP

valiant24 said:

1. I did read the FAQ carefully.   It says "You wait for the DQ from the court and this is how you fill it out. If the DQ does not arrive within a week, check with the court".  Is your revised advice not to wait, or wait for a reply from the Court (I mailed them today asking the status), but to be proactive and send the claimant a DQ now?

On 24 January at 4:38PM I wrote:

KeithP said:

Having filed your Defence, there is more to do...

1. Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire. Nothing of interest there. Just file it.
   
2. Wait for your own Directions Questionnaire from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then complete it as described by bargepole in his 'what happens when' post.
3. The completed DQ should be returned by email to the CCBC to the same address and in the same way as your Defence was filed earlier.
4. Send a copy of your completed DQ to the Claimant - to their address on your Claim Form.

That is still the way forward.

Unfortunately, since the 'upgrade' to the new forum software, the second link in point 2 on that list no longer works.
Replace point 2 on that list with:

Wait for your own Directions Questionnaire from the CCBC, or download one from the internet - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-n180-directions-questionnaire-small-claims-track , and then complete it as described by bargepole in his 'what happens when' post linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES thread - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64350585#Comment_64350585

and you'll be ok.

Coupon-mad

You son in law is NOT a 'witness', so there is only one witness - you.  

Son in Law is your LAY REPRESENTATIVE.  No need to ask the court for permission.  Nothing goes on the DQ about him.  He just turns up with you on the day and hands over a copy of the Lay Reps Right of Audience Order if the Usher or Judge doesn't get it that he is not just a silent 'Mckenzie friend'.

Google them both to see the difference.  

Hope you have read the NEWBIES thread about what happens when, so you are ready for WS & evidence stage?

Le_Kirk

valiant24 said:

Hi Redx and Le_Kirk.  May I follow up: ...............

I see you have been given sound advice from @Redx, @KeithP and @Coupon-mad, no need for me to add anything.

valiant24

A question about Mediation if I may?
I've now received the Directions Questionnaire from the County Court.
The claimant, DCB Legal on behalf of OPS, has ticked the box agreeing to mediation.
I am aware from the FAQs that the advice is to decline this on the grounds that there is no middle ground.   However may I query the advice?:
To date the Claimant has simply repeated its claim is based upon the issuance of a PCN.   In return I have provided 17 paragraphs of closely-typed reasoning over 4 pages explaining why I don't think the claim is valid.
By agreeing to mediation, with o intention of actually settling, might I not glean valuable information as to why the Claimant (inexplicably in my view) sees my defence as so crap as to be worth money continuing the Claim?
Thanks
V 

nosferatu1001

Not a hope. You'll gain absolutely nothing as mediation is not direct. You speak to a third party

tick no

they don't "think" anything 

KeithP

valiant24 said:

By agreeing to mediation, with o intention of actually settling, might I not glean valuable information as to why the Claimant (inexplicably in my view) sees my defence as so crap as to be worth money continuing the Claim?
Thanks
V 

Unlikely.

The risk is that you will be pressurised by both the Claimant and the Mediator to settle at the amount asked for by the Claimant.

You are likely to leave the session feeling battered - maybe not physically, but mentally.

valiant24

The risk is that you will be pressurised by both the Claimant and the Mediator to settle at the amount asked for by the Claimant ... You are likely to leave the session feeling battered - maybe not physically, but mentally.
Thanks for the reply:
a. My (perhaps imperfect) reading of the Mediation info is that I would speak only to the Mediator and never the Claimant
b. My reading is also that I am free to decline any "offer" from the Claimant via the mediator
c. I am unlikely to feel battered.  I'm really quite enjoying the whole thing.   There's not much else to do at present!
But are you saying also that I'm unlikely to find out anything useful about what the Claimant thinks is the weakness in my defence?
Also can I get someone to represent me in the Mediation call would you know?

Umkomaas

You seem to want to avoid the advice. The advice isn't going to change - it's built around experience over the past few years - and I don't think you're going to get anyone to further explain it or travel a nugatory path of debate. 

Just let us know how you get on.

D_P_Dance

Mediation needs common ground, with a parking parasite there should be none.

valiant24

You seem to want to avoid the advice. The advice isn't going to change - it's built around experience over the past few years - and I don't think you're going to get anyone to further explain it or travel a nugatory path of debate. 

I hope it doesn't come over that way.  I'm very grateful for all the advice I've had on the forum, some of it fantastic.   

Does it really hurt if someone occasionally gently challenges the orthodoxy, or at least asks for an explanation?   I really hope not.
Thanks
V