90 seconds part two

ellaro9

Im not awake, just bluffing it.
So leave it as it was?
I think the IPC code changed slightly in newer editions but thats what it said at the material time.
This will be emailed to the court before close of business today.

Coupon-mad

Yes, you were right and should go back to what yours said.

Uptown_Boy

Coupon-mad said:

OK, as I said, email the defence and counterclaim tonight anyway.  Put in the body of the covering email that you will phone to pay for the counterclaim (£60) once the CCBC is available to take the payment from Wednesday onwards, or can the CCBC please phone you (give your number if you want).

Add that you are going to be in Hospital from Thursday so if they are not taking payments over the phone by Weds you will post a cheque for £60 citing the Claim number and the fact it is to pay for the counterclaim.

For the avoidance of doubt, make sure to (also) write any relevant details on the back of the cheque, so if the cheque gets separated from any covering letter then the purpose should remain clear.  

ellaro9

Uptown_Boy said:

For the avoidance of doubt, make sure to (also) write any relevant details on the back of the cheque, so if the cheque gets separated from any covering letter then the purpose should remain clear.  

Will do, thank you.

Ive just emailed the defence/counterclaim to them so just have to try and make the payment Wednesday, if not a cheque will be in the post.

Eminowa

This is interesting,  good job coupon-mad and others.  I will love to hear the outcome of this case. Please.

Coupon-mad

It's rumbling on at the moment and I am in touch with the OP!

ellaro9

There has been a lot of activity behind the forum with my case, I counterclaimed but VCS didn't defend despite being given an additional 28 days to do so.

I had my hearing this morning, it was supposed to be at 230pm but an email last night said it had moved to 1130am, so I was on the video portal at around 1115, it had been postponed a few times due to me being rushed into hospital so I was eager to get it over with.

At 11:32 the judge came in and immediately took control, he went straight to the video that I had posted onto YouTube, he said he had seen it and it clearly goes against their own rules and asked their rep, a Mr Khan who identified himself as a ‘solicitors agent’, about how he thinks it's acceptable to ticket someone in less than two minutes.

Mr Khan said he had not seen the video which I was expecting and so smiled, the judge however was not at all impressed, “I’ve seen it, and you have been provided it many times by the defendant, so why haven’t you seen it yet, we are in court now?”

Mr Khan then said he would watch it now on his phone, the judge was clearly irritated. I pointed out that they had been sent the same bundle as the court, which included the YouTube link and a playable DVD. Mr Khan watched the video and conceded that it was against their own rules.

The judge asked me about the video switching from front view to rear and I explained that was because the ticketer appears first at the rear of the car, the judge was happy with that, he then asked did I show the ticketer my blue badge, “yes sir” I said, “I already had it in my hand”, that’s it then the judge said.

He turned to Mr Khan and told him he believed what I was saying and what did he have to say about it. Mr Khan had no answer, so the judge turned to why was there was no statement from the guy who ticketed me, Mr Khan didn’t have an explanation for that either, the judge was clearly annoyed and was using words like “beggars belief”, “unreasonable”, “deplorable”.

At this point, the judge declared” case dismissed”, less than 10 minutes had passed.

I was just in it for the ride from here on.

The judge then started talking about my counterclaim. Mr Khan started making excuses that they only had the order dated March which didn’t give a judgement, the judge pointed out to him that there was a later judgement to that one by the same judge, giving me the default win, and told him in no uncertain terms that the judgement dated the 29th April overrides the earlier one dated the March, and the earlier one was a ‘respond or else’ order, so why was he referring to that one? Mr Khan waffled some excuses but the judge was having none of it and told him it had been made clear I had already won the counterclaim as they never defended it, he only had to judge on the amount.

The judge spoke of my counterclaim being based on the equality act and data protection but then said he wasn’t going to rule on that, he made it clear he was more interested in the harassment side of it.

He then started using words like “punitive sanction”, and the judge asked me what I had claimed as costs, so I informed him 20hrs at litigant in-person rate, I told him that was a conservative estimate considering it had been going on for nearly three years.

The judge then started talking about how the claimant had acted so unreasonably, considering the video, and the fact they already knew I am disabled, so he accepted my costs and gave me £440 which included the £60 cost of the counterclaim.

Then he started talking about the harassment side of it all and awarded me another £560, Mr Khan at this point decided to try some damage limitation and questioned my costs, he said there was no breakdown of this and all I had done is send some letters saying the same thing, I didn’t get chance to correct him as the judge was having none of it and shot him down with “if it had been a solicitor it would have cost much more”, he then said the amount I had claimed was modest considering all the paperwork he had from me in front of him.

Mr Khan was making noises about the discussion I had with the ticketing guy, and told the judge the first time I mentioned it was in my witness statement, the judge started looking through my paperwork and asked me about it, I actually failed to see any relevance to this point and just told the judge if he couldn’t find it then it was unlikely I would. Mr Khan insisted they would have looked more closely at my appeals if they had known of this, but we all know that’s not true, don’t we?

Mr Khan then started making a case for an appeal, the judge listened, I held my breath, then the judge said he was refusing leave to appeal as they had no realistic chance of success and referred him to the law.

The judge then informed Mr Khan that if they had not issued a claim against me, there would have been no counterclaim, so it was of their own doing, he made this point several times.

He then asked if Mr Khan had anything else to add, the answer was no, then it was my turn, I was buzzing from the wild ride I’d just been on and thought it best to leave it at that.

“Good afternoon” said the judge, and that was that.

The usher appeared and bid us goodbye, I then took 5 minutes to come down from the rush.

 

There has been a lot of goings-on behind the forum with Coupon-Mad helping me a great deal and holding my hand, putting up with my ranting etc, so I give her a huge THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

You did say the judge will probably ‘rip them a new one’ and he actually did.

Also Fruitcake and Parking Mad for the encouragement.

Along with everyone else who has commented along the way, THANK YOU ALL.

 

Anyone going through this should not be intimidated by these people; I actually enjoyed it and am £1000 better off as a result.

D_P_Dance

I love it when a judge applies common sense.  Imo they were mad to defend a disability counter claim.  Mr Khan should pick his battles more carefully in future.  

Le_Kirk

That is abso-bloomin-lutely brilliant a great report and an even better win,

Coupon-mad

Eminowa said:

This is interesting,  good job coupon-mad and others.  I will love to hear the outcome of this case. Please.

Outcome now posted! £1000 awarded, including costs.

Power to this OP!  He knew his counterclaim was awarded in his favour by default months ago (because VCS failed to bother to defend it - at all!) and he asked for judgment twice and finally after pushing for justice, got that ordered in late April.

But it was just a matter of the quantum, and seeing off the deluded claim which was never discontinued (madness).  But this OP put so much work into it behind the scenes.

Glad to have helped you achieve this!

It will help others, @ellaro9, to post your witness statement here, suitably redacted of your data, as it will help with future counterclaims.