VCS Claim & Defence

emilycharlotte

I spoke to the Court today. 
VCS have not sent them a witness statement and they have recieved the bundle of documents that I received which relate to this other man/woman's case with them. 
The Court have asked me to put an email together which they will put in front of the Judge setting out that I haven't recieved the WS and setting out what my concerns are about the data breach. 
Should I be asking the Judge to strike the matter out? 
I will draft the email today but any help/ thoughts on content would really be appreciated! 
I will address the breach, VCS's failure to comply and I am a LIP and I have complied, the fact Court time is very limited, the Order which states that if the documents are not received by the time Ordered then the Court will not consider the matter on the date above and the matter will be stayed without further order pending further application. 
The order stating that the Judge may refuse to consider a document or take it into account if a copy has not been sent to the other party as required by the Order. 

Le_Kirk

You should hammer the point in your e-mail that you are a LiP and you complied, you did not send YOUR bundle to the wrong place, you did not send anyone else's data to the court whereas the claimant is a "so-called" professional outfit and, not only did they fail to comply, but sent the wrong bundle.  You request that since the court does not have claimant's evidence they will not be able to present a case and it should therefore struck out NOT stayed.  If it is stayed it will be giving the claimant a free pass.  The court rules are there for both sides and should be applied correctly.

emilycharlotte

Le_Kirk said:

You should hammer the point in your e-mail that you are a LiP and you complied, you did not send YOUR bundle to the wrong place, you did not send anyone else's data to the court whereas the claimant is a "so-called" professional outfit and, not only did they fail to comply, but sent the wrong bundle.  You request that since the court does not have claimant's evidence they will not be able to present a case and it should therefore struck out NOT stayed.  If it is stayed it will be giving the claimant a free pass.  The court rules are there for both sides and should be applied correctly.

Thank you. Should I also include that the Claimant recieved my witness statement and they woild be at an unfair advantage because they have the opportunity to respond to my evidence? Not that I have anything to hide but seems unfair if they did get that opportunity. 

Also an update from the man over in blackpool: 

"I’ve now had the chance to read through all the VCS documentation and it is a mess. It doesn’t mention your name but it does appear to be confusing more than one case. At one point it is arguing that the fine is  £100 and at another claiming this is a retail area and the fine is £85 (ours was the parking for an apartment block so no parking fees were needed). They’ve also filled it with copy and paste legal claims, which repeat themselves word for word sometimes on the same page or the next page – whole paragraphs just repeated verbatim.

I’ve marked up the document, if knowing or having access to any of this would help I’d be happy to share. I’ll also let you know the outcome of this case they’re relying on a few prior cases all of which are largely irrelevant in this instance.

Thank you so much for calling and sharing – anything I can do let me know."

Snakes_Belly

VCS and Excel's witness statements are very repetitive and contain a lot of irrelevant information that it may be difficult to tell which case that they are intended for other than the fact that the name of the defendant will be different.

Le_Kirk

Absolutely anything you can use that supports you and discredits the claimant.  Doesn't surprise me what the "man-in-Blackpool" has said, it is often the case that the claimant's/PPC's witness statements are copy & paste, despite them often saying that the defendant has "copied his defence from the Internet and is therefore inadmissible". - Hypocrites!

nosferatu1001

They aren't at an advantage. Not truly. Your defence isn't altering no matter how long they have. 

State that you ask the court 
- does not allow relief from sanction, which you notice the claimant has not applied fir
- as the claimant cannot prove their case, as no true witness will attend, you ask the claim is struck out. To adjourn would be unfair on the defendant and disproportionate to the cost of the claim. 

emilycharlotte

I have drafted the below and will send to the Court this evening unless anyone has any suggestions/alterations? Many thanks for all your helpful comments already:

Dear Judge

RE: (Case number)

I am the Defendant in this matter and I telephoned the Court today and spoke to Court staff about my concerns. The Court staff asked me to put my concerns in an email, which are outlined below:

1.       On 11 November the Claimant sent a bundle of documents to myself. I am concerned because the Claimants have used an email address which I no longer use and have not used for any correspondence relating to this matter. I do not know where the Claimants have found this email address and I certainly have not agreed to accept service of papers on this email address as it is an email address I used when I was a student.  It is pure luck and coincidence that I have logged into that email account and seen the email. I have not received any documents through the post, which is how the Claimants were previously contacting me, and I assumed further documents would be received by hard copy. If the Claimants wanted to serve papers on me electronically then they should have liaised with me in advance. In accordance with CPR paragraph 4.1 of practice direction 6A, service by fax or e-mail is only permitted if agreement is reached between both parties to accept service by electronic means.

2.       The bundle of papers I have received from the Claimant relate to another of VCS Claims against someone named (name here). I have received this other Defendant’s Claim form, defence, counterclaim and Claimant’s witness statement complete with evidence and pictures of the Defendant’s car, letters and emails between the Claimant and Defendant and the Claimant’s defence to Counterclaim. The information I have received therefore contains the Defendant’s full name, husband’s name, their current address, former address, telephone number, email address and car registration number. Intermingled in this bundle at pages 36 and 47 is my own information, including exhibit sheets that contain my name, this Court, the claim number etc.

3.       I am incredibly concerned about this data breach and where my own sensitive information has been sent to. I have been the victim of fraud in the past and I have experienced how a breach of sensitive data like this can permanently disrupt my life. It is easy for fraudsters to use my personal information as a security mechanism. In addition, I do not want anyone knowing that I am a Defendant and I am being ‘taken to Court’ so to speak. If this information got into the wrong hands and became publicly known then it could affect people’s views of me and could affect my career.

4.       I am a litigant in person. It has taken me hours to research this area of law, which was foreign to me before this claim was made. Despite being a litigant in person, I understand the importance of complying with Orders that the Court has made to ensure a fair and effective hearing. I also understand the pressure that the Court is under at this time and the fact that Court time is very limited. I therefore have complied with all directions, I ensured that I served all papers on the Claimant in accordance with directions and I have not sent my bundle/ statement to the wrong place. In contrast, the Claimant is a trained professional legal person, familiar with the usual timetable, directions and procedures and not only have they failed to comply, they have sent a bundle which contains someone else’s matter.

I would ask that the Court does not allow relief from sanction, which I notice the Claimant has not applied for in accordance with CPR 3.9.

The Court nor myself have been afforded the Claimant’s evidence and the Claimant will not be able to present a case. As the Claimant cannot prove their case, as no true witness will attend, I ask that the claim is struck out rather than stayed. To adjourn the matter would be unfair on myself as Defendant and disproportionate to the cost of the claim.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Coupon-mad

I'd put this LAST:

 I am concerned because the Claimants have used an email address which I no longer use and have not used for any correspondence relating to this matter. I do not know where the Claimants have found this email address and I certainly have not agreed to accept service of papers on this email address as it is an email address I used when I was a student.  It is pure luck and coincidence that I have logged into that email account and seen the email. I have not received any documents through the post, which is how the Claimants were previously contacting me, and I assumed further documents would be received by hard copy. If the Claimants wanted to serve papers on me electronically then they should have liaised with me in advance. In accordance with CPR paragraph 4.1 of practice direction 6A, service by fax or e-mail is only permitted if agreement is reached between both parties to accept service by electronic means.

And add here:
3.       I contacted the court and was told that the documents filed with the court also include the same mix of two cases and that the court, like me, is not in possession of a witness statement and evidence bundle that relates to my case alone.  I am incredibly concerned about this data breach and where my own sensitive information may have been sent to, given this evidence that VCS are so lax with sensitive consumer data.  I have been the victim of fraud in the past and I have experienced how a breach of sensitive data like this can permanently disrupt my life. It is easy for fraudsters to use my personal information as a security mechanism. In addition, I do not want anyone knowing that I am a Defendant and I am being ‘taken to Court’ so to speak. If this information got into the wrong hands and became publicly known then it could affect people’s views of me and could affect my career.  

You could also add to this sentence:
I ask that the claim is struck out rather than stayed and that the court uses its discretion to either immediately award my full costs as set out in my costs assessment, already filed and served in time, or orders that the hearing continues as a costs hearing alone, in view of the wholly unreasonable and alarming conduct of this Claimant.

emilycharlotte

Coupon-mad said:

I'd put this LAST:

 I am concerned because the Claimants have used an email address which I no longer use and have not used for any correspondence relating to this matter. I do not know where the Claimants have found this email address and I certainly have not agreed to accept service of papers on this email address as it is an email address I used when I was a student.  It is pure luck and coincidence that I have logged into that email account and seen the email. I have not received any documents through the post, which is how the Claimants were previously contacting me, and I assumed further documents would be received by hard copy. If the Claimants wanted to serve papers on me electronically then they should have liaised with me in advance. In accordance with CPR paragraph 4.1 of practice direction 6A, service by fax or e-mail is only permitted if agreement is reached between both parties to accept service by electronic means.

And add here:
3.       I contacted the court and was told that the documents filed with the court also include the same mix of two cases and that the court, like me, is not in possession of a witness statement and evidence bundle that relates to my case alone.  I am incredibly concerned about this data breach and where my own sensitive information may have been sent to, given this evidence that VCS are so lax with sensitive consumer data.  I have been the victim of fraud in the past and I have experienced how a breach of sensitive data like this can permanently disrupt my life. It is easy for fraudsters to use my personal information as a security mechanism. In addition, I do not want anyone knowing that I am a Defendant and I am being ‘taken to Court’ so to speak. If this information got into the wrong hands and became publicly known then it could affect people’s views of me and could affect my career.  

You could also add to this sentence:
I ask that the claim is struck out rather than stayed and that the court uses its discretion to either immediately award my full costs as set out in my costs assessment, already filed and served in time, or orders that the hearing continues as a costs hearing alone, in view of the wholly unreasonable and alarming conduct of this Claimant.

Perfect thank you for your help, I have done the above and will send it to Court this evening. I will let you know what Court decides. Thanks again

Were_Doomed

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6216341/parking-eye-broke-gdpr-rules

It seems that it's not just VCS who drop b0ll0cks like this - even the sainted PE are prone to this.

Edit: I was going to bump this but as C-m has seen it I don't need to.