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Court Report - UKCPM / Gladstones Spanked
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bargepole
Posts: 3,237 Forumite
Claim Nos. E9GF9M7K and E4GF8M1R, UKCPM -v- Mrs A, before Deputy District Judge Chohan at High Wycombe.
Claimant represented by Mr Cookson (Elms Legal).
The Defendant had only received the Claimant's WS and evidence by email, 24 hours before the hearing.
Once the introductions were done, I made my preliminary submissions that the C’s WS had been served unreasonably late, with no application for relief from sanctions, and secondly, it was obvious that Mr Chapman had not signed the statement, but that Gladstones had electronically copied his signature from another document. I handed up to the Judge a copy of the WS from a previous case for comparison, and a copy of my complaint to the SRA about Gladstones.
The Judge agreed that, as the C had legal representation, the late service was inexcusable. He said that he used to be a police officer before he became a solicitor, and was well used to spotting forgeries. He agreed that the two signatures were absolutely identical, and it was impossible that Mr Chapman had signed the statement.
Mr Cookson tried to argue for an adjournment, but the DDJ was having none of it.
He therefore struck out both conjoined claims.
He also agreed that the two factors of late service, and a defective WS, crossed the threshold of unreasonable behaviour, and awarded Mrs A her full costs in the sum of £331.80, which he said was a very reasonable figure.
Mr Cookson asked for leave to appeal, which the DDJ refused as there was no merit in his grounds.
He said that he would leave it to the SRA to deal with Gladstones, but that he sees a lot of parking cases, and will be on the lookout for this sort of thing in future.
Claimant represented by Mr Cookson (Elms Legal).
The Defendant had only received the Claimant's WS and evidence by email, 24 hours before the hearing.
Once the introductions were done, I made my preliminary submissions that the C’s WS had been served unreasonably late, with no application for relief from sanctions, and secondly, it was obvious that Mr Chapman had not signed the statement, but that Gladstones had electronically copied his signature from another document. I handed up to the Judge a copy of the WS from a previous case for comparison, and a copy of my complaint to the SRA about Gladstones.
The Judge agreed that, as the C had legal representation, the late service was inexcusable. He said that he used to be a police officer before he became a solicitor, and was well used to spotting forgeries. He agreed that the two signatures were absolutely identical, and it was impossible that Mr Chapman had signed the statement.
Mr Cookson tried to argue for an adjournment, but the DDJ was having none of it.
He therefore struck out both conjoined claims.
He also agreed that the two factors of late service, and a defective WS, crossed the threshold of unreasonable behaviour, and awarded Mrs A her full costs in the sum of £331.80, which he said was a very reasonable figure.
Mr Cookson asked for leave to appeal, which the DDJ refused as there was no merit in his grounds.
He said that he would leave it to the SRA to deal with Gladstones, but that he sees a lot of parking cases, and will be on the lookout for this sort of thing in future.
I have been providing assistance, including Lay Representation at Court hearings (current score: won 57, lost 14), to defendants in parking cases for over 5 years. I have an LLB (Hons) degree, and have a Graduate Diploma in Civil Litigation from CILEx. However, any advice given on these forums by me is NOT formal legal advice, and I accept no liability for its accuracy.
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Comments
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Hoist by their own petard. Extremely well done OP. I hope that you bring it to the attention of the SRA
https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/complaints-service/You never know how far you can go until you go too far.0 -
Amazing result, well done!
In my case I've been given a WS with a contract statement of authority from the leaseholder (on behalf of the landowner), and there are 2 sheets included with an identical, photocopied signature, date and name. They don't have any contract from the landowner in the WS so this is their only proof
Could this argument have any traction if I explained the same? Or would it only apply to a statement of truth?
Sorry for hijacking but as it's so similar I'd really appreciate your perspective,
Cheers0 -
Well done :beer:
The total incompetence of Gladstones strikes again
It's so amusing how stupid they are0 -
Let's hope they do and well done Bargepole.Claim Nos. E9GF9M7K and E4GF8M1R, UKCPM -v- Mrs A, before Deputy District Judge Chohan at High Wycombe.
He said that he would leave it to the SRA to deal with Gladstones, but that he sees a lot of parking cases, and will be on the lookout for this sort of thing in future.0 -
Thanks for the report BP!0
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Nice one bargepole. Loved your complaint to the SRA.PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD0 -
ha ha , well done Mr C
up yours UKCPM and Gladrags0 -
Hi, is there a link to Mr. Chapmans signature so I can use in my response to the court?
Also, can you please confirm what address and capacity he gave? On my copy it states:
Of Ground Floor, 19 New Road, W1B 3HH and that he is an employee of the claimant company.
I have googled the address and also tried to look it up on land registry but cannot find it. Is it possible that its a made up address?!
Edit: 19 New Road is the 1st part of UKCPMs address in Brighton but the postcode is incorrect on the WS. Can I have the WS disregarded on points of inaccurate address given and possible forgery of signature? (Once I verify with other WS sigs)
Thanks0 -
Hi, is there a link to Mr. Chapmans signature so I can use in my response to the court?
Also, can you please confirm what address and capacity he gave? On my copy it states:
Of Ground Floor, 19 New Road, W1B 3HH and that he is an employee of the claimant company.
I have googled the address and also tried to look it up on land registry but cannot find it. Is it possible that its a made up address?!
Thanks
W1B 3HH is the postcode for 207 Regent Street London their Reg Office; 19 New Road is part of their Brighton address.
You weren't expecting accuracy were you?0
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