Advice needed - County Court claim, UK Parking Control Ltd

venousdata

I believe time off work/lost hours and travel are the normal costs?

Capped at something like £90-£100?

regardless I’ll highlight my own copy of the costs to remember for the hearing.

nosferatu1001

No need to believe, its in the CPRs
Half a day loss of pay OR LEAVE, capped at £95. 

Coupon-mad

I'm fed up seeing people told to phone courts and speak to busy clerks.  They always come away with half-messages and having asked the wrong thing or not able to recount what the court actually said, and with no paper trail.  So there is rarely much point, IMHO.

If the other side has failed to serve their bundle to the D, then it is a fact that they failed to serve it, and that should be the first point of attack in front of the Judge.

nosferatu1001

And they claim they sent it via post, and then what? 
The D has been at a disadvantage in not being able to prepare
To the court you just look like a chancer. 
Calling is to do one thing, and one thing only - gain info. IF you find out the Court does not have a copy, you file with the court and serve on the C notice that you have not been served their bundle as required by the order of X date, and you ask the court to not allow the C any relief from sanctions as they are "professionally" represented. 

Coupon-mad

I think we are saying the same thing but I'd save that till the hearing, personally, and not phone the court staff.

nosferatu1001

I guess I dont likek them being able to persuade the court that you err'ed in not at least saying. Its easy to be painted as unreasonable - especially witht he post being less reliable. 

venousdata

Hi guys, hope you’ve all been well.

so I was supposed to have my hearing a few days ago, but the day before I received an urgent from the court that informing me that the hearing has been adjourned to a date yet to be announced. It says the following:

Before A Proper Officer sitting at the County Court at XXXX, Po Box XXX, XXX XXXX.

UPON the Court determining that in the exceptional circumstances of the current national public health emergency BY THE COURTS OWN MOTION

IT IS ORDERED THAT

1. The hearing listed on XX XXXXXX 2020 is adjourned to a date to be fixed.

2. The parties are to inform the court as to the number of witnesses involved, any vulnerabilities they may have which affect their ability to participate in a trial by way of a remote hearing, whether any witness or party is a key worker and their role, and any other issues that will assist the court in relisting. This information to be filed at court within 14 days of the deemed service of this order.

3. The parties have permission to apply to XXXXXXXX, the Designated Civil Judge for XXXXXXXX XXX by email within 7 days of deemed service of this order, as to why the case should in fact proceed as currently listed subject to the court being able to provide appropriate facilities including potential of a remote telephone hearing. Applications should be sent to enquiries.XXXXXXX@justice.gov.uk and copied to other parties.

4. Parties to file any dates to avoid for 2020 by XXXXXX 2020.

 The court office at the County Court at XXXXXXXX, Po Box XXXX, XXXXXX, XXXXXX, XXXXXXXX.

my questions: 

besides the obvious unavailable dates and witness count, how should I respond to this?

should insist with an in-person hearing or go with a telephone hearing/Skype hearing?

many thanks 

Ralph-y

have a read of this thread ...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6130456/telephone-hearings-re-parking-firm-claims-can-we-all-discuss-strategy-and-outcomes-here/p1 

Ralph

venousdata

Hi all, it's been a while - hope you're all OK.

So, since the last time I posted here, I've received a letter with a new date for my hearing, 25th Feb '21.

Unfortunately, I received a letter three days ago with a last-minute change to a telephone hearing!

Today, I had the hearing and the judge concluded that the 60-minute timeslot was insufficient, so adjourned the case for a further ~6 months.

Frustrating, but the silver lining here is that the new hearing has been alotted a two hour slot and will be held over MS Teams, which will allow me to screenshare and explain my defence a little more clearly/visually.

Also, the judge seemed pretty friendly towards me, explaining that she's familiar with my 'abuse of process' defence and has dealt with many similar cases in the past. She explained that the claimant usually states their case, then the defendant, then verdict (with her interjecting to ask questions of both sides along the way, if required).

She continued to chew the claimant solicitor's ear off as he sent the evidence pack to an entirely different case which is a pretty serious GDPR breach! He seemed like he didn't have a clue what he was doing. She was pretty hostile towards him from the start - I assume she's fed up of these silly cases.

Unfortunately, due to my inclusion of a supplementary WS, the judge allowed the claimant to submit a counter supplement up to 14 days before the hearing date.

I'm not sure how they can counter it though, as they've included the additional £60 false charge, amongst a range of other illegal actions - all of which I'be gone to town on.

Either way I feel a lot less anxious now.

Anyways, I felt obligated to provide an update as I'm very much indebted to you guys for all the help you've provided over the past few years (it's been a while now). Hopefully someone finds this useful.

Many thanks

Umkomaas

Thank you for your feedback which we always find such informative, providing an up to date idea on how courts are thinking and gives us great motivation to keep pushing forward in fighting the scourge. 

Which legals were UKPC represented by - SCS Law?