Discontinuance - All claims discontinued - Thank you for your help

Linda992

Hi everyone,
I now have 3 hearings set up with Gladstone - court dates are Mar. Apr and Oct.
However, I received this via email last night - seems the nasty UKCPM gave up on one of the 3 cases - this one is supposed to be in court in Apr.
I assume there's nothing I need to do with this case anymore?
And I wonder if I can email and ask them about another 2 cases?

Taking advice from Coupon-mad, I  need to file WS first. My draft is as following. Any advice will be appreciated. 

 I am the Defendant in this matter, of xxxx. I am unrepresented, with no experience of Court procedures. If I do not set out documents in the way that the Claimant may do, I trust the Court will excuse my inexperience.

In this Witness statement, the facts and matters stated are true and within my own knowledge, except where indicated otherwise.

1. On Date 2018, I visited a friend who lived in xxx, and parked my vehicle registration no xxx in a tunnel near my friend’s flat. The car was parked on the material date on a public road, not on any yellow lines nor causing an obstruction.
2. There’s no distinctive markings or later particulars of claim any information where a reasonable person can identify the controlled parking area as Exhibit A.

3. Upon receipt of a parking charge notice from the Claimant first time on the window shield, I assumed that the ticket issuer has legitimacy of issuing parking charge notices. The parking charge notice was also paid out of goodwill as Exhibit B. However, it has been proved I was wrong.

4. UK Car Park Management are not the lawful occupier of the land. I have the reasonable belief that they do not have the authority to issue charges on this land in their own name and that they have no rights to bring action regarding this claim. All signages the claimant stated in previous correspondence do not exist as Exhibit C.

5. It is my position that, under the doctrine of promissory estoppel, the Claimant has no standing, or cause of action, to litigate in this matter.
6. I invite the Court to dismiss this claim in its entirety, and to award my costs of attendance at the hearing, such as are allowable pursuant to CPR 27.14.

I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.


May I have your advice?
Many thanks in advance.

Coupon-mad

Another option is to request the court to hear another 2 cases together as it's the same cause - UK CPM issued me an unlawful parking charge for exactly the same spot but on different days.

Yes.  

Write to the named Judge who allocated the March hearing and tell him/her that UKCPM have filed three duplicate claims where the only difference is the date of event, and are now exhibiting their usual form of 'see who blinks first' by discontinuing them one by one after putting the Defendant through months of harassment and costs in money and time.  UKCPM cases are currently being investigated by the Solicitors' Regulation Authority, due to a a facsimile signature of a person who may or may not exist (Jack Chapman) being used in template/duplicate 'Witness Statements' that are no such thing.  These have been littered with obvious cut & paste errors, and in some cases in the public domain the timeline has shown that 'Jack Chapman' cannot possibly have signed the statements and they are (reportedly) likely being created by Gladstones solicitors - and now the SRA is actively investigating dozens of examples and intends to report its findings in March 2020.

As such, it would seem fair to ask the court to vacate the March hearing for one of the claims (no xxxxxxx) and require UKCPM to explain the position regarding the pending SRA investigation into their claims filed by Gladstones solicitors, and consolidate their claims and supply a proper Witness Statement and evidence from a company witness who can be shown to exist, and is familiar with the car park in question and who will attend a joint hearing of both the remaining cases, in October, on the date recently set for duplicate claim no xxxxxxxx.  That way, the Defendant will be able to prepare to question the witness and not waste time and costs on two hearings six months apart, where the facts are the same and yet the costs are potentially doubled - conduct that permits of no reasonable explanation.

As a result of the Claimants’ unreasonable behaviour - including the false £60 added to each claim, which is an abuse of process UKCPM currently inflict on every Defendant, yet drop it when questioned by a Judge as they cannot justify double recovery - the Court is respectfully invited to order the Claimants to pay the Defendants’ summary costs on an indemnity basis, pursuant to Civil Procedure Rules, rule 27.14 (2) (g) or to at least reserve the Defendant's costs as assessed at this stage and order them to be refunded as an when the other two claims are (likely) discontinued.

With this in mind, you are attaching your Summary Assessment of Costs* so far for the THREE claims, numbered xxxxxx xxxxxx and xxxxxxx because the hours spent on this rather than your work/family/normal life have run into several dozen hours which you have no choice but to ask the court to use their case management powers to summarily assess at £19 per hour LiP rate, given that this Claimant has conducted these three cases separately and you believe that they are about to discontinue the other two (one Notice of Discontinuance has arrived so far - attached).

Here's some relevant wording in this defence (you are of course not writing an entire defence):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76653149#Comment_76653149

* you simply head a piece of paper up:

 Summary Assessment of Costs - three claims xxxxxxx, xxxxxxx and xxxxxxx 

and you sign & date it, and the middle part splits up the many hours spent on these three claims, into batches, e.g.:

reading Letter before Claim and N1 claim documents for claim #1  xxxxxx - 2 hours

reading Letter before Claim and N1 claim documents for claim #2 xxxxxx - 2 hours

reading Letter before Claim and N1 claim documents for claim #3 xxxxxx - 2 hours

replying to LBCs (if you did) - x hours

researching how to respond to county court claims - x hours

writing defences x 3 and submitting these and Directions questionnaires - x hours

researching Witness Statements and preparing evidence x 3  - x hours

reading the Claimant's Witness Statement and evidence for the March hearing re that claim (if their WS has arrived)  - x hours

making a complaint to the SRA about the facsimile/copy & paste WS that has not been signed by the Claimant  - x hours

preparing Defendant's own WS and evidence  - x hours

printing and postage of xx pages  - £xx

Total it, sign it and date it and put a copy in with your letter to the Judge as this is the only way you MIGHT get costs if all these claims end up discontinued  - so put that 'foot in the court door' right now with your summary costs assessment.  If you want to be really daring (if you earn more than £19 per hour in your work) then add a note that explains that some of this has taken your focus away fro your normal work and you have even had to take a day's leave to handle it all and attach proof of your hourly rate and slap in that section at your full working rate for 'loss of leave' as allowed in the CPRs.  

Add (at the bottom of the summary costs assessment) that the total is justified and necessary and has been fairly assessed by the Defendant at this point in time (pre hearing costs) and in accordance with the rules about LiP costs that you have researched, does not exceed two thirds of the typical costs that a solicitor would have charged for handling all documents and writing defences for three separate claims.

Email a copy of all of the above to Gladstones but over the weekend, having posted the court's version 1st class tomorrow, with FOR THE URGENT ATTENTION OF (Judge's name) on the front of the envelope containing all this.

Make sure every page has all THREE claim numbers on it because even though one has been discontinued, your time has been wasted on all three.

We assume for the March hearing you have filed & served your WS & evidence in time, or it is not quite due yet?

D_P_Dance

 UKCPM cases are currently being investigated by the Solicitors' Regulation Authority,

How so, they are not solicitors.

Le_Kirk

D_P_Dance said:

 UKCPM cases are currently being investigated by the Solicitors' Regulation Authority,
How so, they are not solicitors.

Is it not Gladstones that are being investigated?

Castle

TLe_Kirk said:

D_P_Dance said:

 UKCPM cases are currently being investigated by the Solicitors' Regulation Authority,
How so, they are not solicitors.

Is it not Gladstones that are being investigated?

The witness statements "signed" by Jack Chapman of UKCPM are written by Gladstones.

Linda992

Coupon-mad said:

Another option is to request the court to hear another 2 cases together as it's the same cause - UK CPM issued me an unlawful parking charge for exactly the same spot but on different days.

Yes.  

Write to the named Judge who allocated the March hearing and tell him/her that UKCPM have filed three duplicate claims where the only difference is the date of event, and are now exhibiting their usual form of 'see who blinks first' by discontinuing them one by one after putting the Defendant through months of harassment and costs in money and time.  UKCPM cases are currently being investigated by the Solicitors' Regulation Authority, due to a a facsimile signature of a person who may or may not exist (Jack Chapman) being used in template/duplicate 'Witness Statements' that are no such thing.  These have been littered with obvious cut & paste errors, and in some cases in the public domain the timeline has shown that 'Jack Chapman' cannot possibly have signed the statements and they are (reportedly) likely being created by Gladstones solicitors - and now the SRA is actively investigating dozens of examples and intends to report its findings in March 2020.

As such, it would seem fair to ask the court to vacate the March hearing for one of the claims (no xxxxxxx) and require UKCPM to explain the position regarding the pending SRA investigation into their claims filed by Gladstones solicitors, and consolidate their claims and supply a proper Witness Statement and evidence from a company witness who can be shown to exist, and is familiar with the car park in question and who will attend a joint hearing of both the remaining cases, in October, on the date recently set for duplicate claim no xxxxxxxx.  That way, the Defendant will be able to prepare to question the witness and not waste time and costs on two hearings six months apart, where the facts are the same and yet the costs are potentially doubled - conduct that permits of no reasonable explanation.

As a result of the Claimants’ unreasonable behaviour - including the false £60 added to each claim, which is an abuse of process UKCPM currently inflict on every Defendant, yet drop it when questioned by a Judge as they cannot justify double recovery - the Court is respectfully invited to order the Claimants to pay the Defendants’ summary costs on an indemnity basis, pursuant to Civil Procedure Rules, rule 27.14 (2) (g) or to at least reserve the Defendant's costs as assessed at this stage and order them to be refunded as an when the other two claims are (likely) discontinued.

With this in mind, you are attaching your Summary Assessment of Costs* so far for the THREE claims, numbered xxxxxx xxxxxx and xxxxxxx because the hours spent on this rather than your work/family/normal life have run into several dozen hours which you have no choice but to ask the court to use their case management powers to summarily assess at £19 per hour LiP rate, given that this Claimant has conducted these three cases separately and you believe that they are about to discontinue the other two (one Notice of Discontinuance has arrived so far - attached).

Here's some relevant wording in this defence (you are of course not writing an entire defence):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76653149#Comment_76653149

* you simply head a piece of paper up:

 Summary Assessment of Costs - three claims xxxxxxx, xxxxxxx and xxxxxxx 

and you sign & date it, and the middle part splits up the many hours spent on these three claims, into batches, e.g.:

reading Letter before Claim and N1 claim documents for claim #1  xxxxxx - 2 hours

reading Letter before Claim and N1 claim documents for claim #2 xxxxxx - 2 hours

reading Letter before Claim and N1 claim documents for claim #3 xxxxxx - 2 hours

replying to LBCs (if you did) - x hours

researching how to respond to county court claims - x hours

writing defences x 3 and submitting these and Directions questionnaires - x hours

researching Witness Statements and preparing evidence x 3  - x hours

reading the Claimant's Witness Statement and evidence for the March hearing re that claim (if their WS has arrived)  - x hours

making a complaint to the SRA about the facsimile/copy & paste WS that has not been signed by the Claimant  - x hours

preparing Defendant's own WS and evidence  - x hours

printing and postage of xx pages  - £xx

Total it, sign it and date it and put a copy in with your letter to the Judge as this is the only way you MIGHT get costs if all these claims end up discontinued  - so put that 'foot in the court door' right now with your summary costs assessment.  If you want to be really daring (if you earn more than £19 per hour in your work) then add a note that explains that some of this has taken your focus away fro your normal work and you have even had to take a day's leave to handle it all and attach proof of your hourly rate and slap in that section at your full working rate for 'loss of leave' as allowed in the CPRs.  

Add (at the bottom of the summary costs assessment) that the total is justified and necessary and has been fairly assessed by the Defendant at this point in time (pre hearing costs) and in accordance with the rules about LiP costs that you have researched, does not exceed two thirds of the typical costs that a solicitor would have charged for handling all documents and writing defences for three separate claims.

Email a copy of all of the above to Gladstones but over the weekend, having posted the court's version 1st class tomorrow, with FOR THE URGENT ATTENTION OF (Judge's name) on the front of the envelope containing all this.

Make sure every page has all THREE claim numbers on it because even though one has been discontinued, your time has been wasted on all three.

We assume for the March hearing you have filed & served your WS & evidence in time, or it is not quite due yet?

Thank you soooo much for your help. I'll send a letter to the court and request them to combine the two cases - hold one hearing in Oct. 
Honestly I didn't serve WS & evidence as the only witness is myself. And Gladstones didn't send me WS&evidence either - the previous parking charge notices include photos of my car in the spot - are they evidence?
I only sent claim acknowledgement and defense. Do they account for WS&evidence?

Linda992

Castle said:

TLe_Kirk said:

D_P_Dance said:

 UKCPM cases are currently being investigated by the Solicitors' Regulation Authority,
How so, they are not solicitors.

Is it not Gladstones that are being investigated?

The witness statements "signed" by Jack Chapman of UKCPM are written by Gladstones.

I don't think I ever received witness statements... Does Gladstones send them to everyone or only some victims received this?

Coupon-mad

But you know the deadlines to exchange WS, because the court letter tells you. 
And you have failed to bother to do it?

Honestly I didn't serve WS & evidence as the only witness is myself.

Like every case...where EVERYONE here dealing with a claim, reads and learns about the importance of WS & evidence stage, and everyone with a UKCPM claim reads about the Jack Chapman signature...

So far, you have served no evidence, nothing at all.  No, the defence doesn't cut it!

You don't just rock up at hearings, having ONLY done a defence...

You have some major reading to catch up on this weekend (I am going to suggest you read, say, 20 UKCPM Jack Chapman threads and learn from  them about what you MUST do) and then you have a WS & evidence to write and put together, which must go to the court with what I suggested above.

See you on Saturday/Sunday back here, with your planned WS & evidence and Summary Costs Assessment and covering letter.

Linda992

Coupon-mad said:

But you know the deadlines to exchange WS, because the court letter tells you. 
And you have failed to bother to do it?

Honestly I didn't serve WS & evidence as the only witness is myself.

Like every case...where EVERYONE here dealing with a claim, reads and learns about the importance of WS & evidence stage, and everyone with a UKCPM claim reads about the Jack Chapman signature...

So far, you have served no evidence, nothing at all.  No, the defence doesn't cut it!

You don't just rock up at hearings, having ONLY done a defence...

You have some major reading to catch up on this weekend (I am going to suggest you read, say, 20 UKCPM Jack Chapman threads and learn from  them about what you MUST do) and then you have a WS & evidence to write and put together, which must go to the court with what I suggested above.

See you on Saturday/Sunday back here, with your planned WS & evidence and Summary Costs Assessment and covering letter.

The court didn't ask me to submit a WS.
Strangely the only letter I received after submitting defence is Notice of Allocation to Small Claims Track (Hearing). And it didn't mention WS at all... Therefore I didn't know I should submit a WS. 
Shall I submit a WS anyway? There's still more than 14 days before my hearing. 

Redx

Read that court order again , front and back , the one from your local court , not the CCBC

If the people here tell you that your court paperwork tells you something , assume it's true and you have not read it properly

As you say , you are a witness , witness number one ,  you also have Exhibits , including your costs schedule , all which must be filed with the court and claimant , usually 2 weeks before the hearing , or longer

You haven't read the bargepole timeline he posted several years ago on here , linked in the Newbies FAQ sticky thread that tells you what happens and when , this is the MCOL procedures , nothing to do with parking , could be a builder dispute

Just assume that coupon mad is right and you are wrong , then work from there , it's easier for all that way

nosferatu1001

Yes it did. Its on the court hearing letter, sometimes on the back, stating you must exchange all documents - this would be the WS AND your other evidence - by a deadline, OFTEN but NOT always 14 days befor ethe hearing date. 
Yes
Of course you file a WS. Youve been told this already!
There is no way around it. you must file one. Must. No ifs or buts.