Surprise CCJ - Flora St Sheffield Restricted Area - VCS / Elms Legal

Le_Kirk

If it were me, I would be liaising with the claimant to make sure they have read and understood the court instructions and that they have my Witness Statement and draft defence AND phone number and are planning to submit ALL of that to the court by the deadline.

Ralph-y

worth a read ...

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

Ralph

Coupon-mad

If it were me I'd read 'Claimant' as 'the set aside applicant' and assume the court clerk was using a template and didn't change it!   We've seen Courts make this sort of error before and you should sort the bundle out.   

Your Order should have read ''The Defendant Shall''.

Le_Kirk

Coupon-mad said:

If it were me I'd read 'Claimant' as 'the set aside applicant' and assume the court clerk was using a template and didn't change it!   We've seen Courts make this sort of error before and you should sort the bundle out.   
Your Order should have read ''The Defendant Shall''.

On the basis of this OP (and a good shout by @Coupon-mad), I would be chasing the court!

Supraman15

Thanks guys
@Coupon-mad I thought the same although at the top of the letter it states the name of the Defendant and claimant in a little table (the same as you would see on a court order/ case outcome letter) 

@Le_Kirk I think I should probably do this as I don't think the Claimant has a copy of my WS etc... was I supposed to send this to them when I submitted the N244 form?

To add to the frustration / confusion I have been trying to ring the Manchester Civil Justice centre for the past 2 days and it just rings until someone hangs the phone up.

Coupon-mad

Yep the Order will always get the top tables right but the clerk has put the wrong thing in the body of the instructions, probably because it defaults to the Claimant doing things in most cases.

Supraman15

Thanks @Coupon-mad I'll get an E-Bundle sent over to VCS (the claimant) asap and ask them to agree on the contents. (I wonder if they will bother replying given that the hearing is next Thursday and I need to submit this bundle no later than Monday)
What if I hadn't noticed this error, I expect I would be penalised for the clerks mistake which seems bonkers.

It also seems weird to me that it says that the e-bundle should be agreed prior to it being sent to the courts 3 w.days before the hearing, which suggests that the C and D should have spoken about the docs beforehand. How is anyone supposed to know that you're supposed to liaise unless asked to directly?

Coupon-mad

I'd say the whole wording is wrong and inappropriate to the case.  As an applicant for a set aside you would not normally be expected to liaise with the C.

Supraman15

You were right. 
I finally got through to the Manchester County Court and spoke to case management to ask if they could email me a copy of the original letter as I had misplaced it (but had photos on my mobile phone)
"That will be £10 please"
"What to just email me a pdf?"
"Yes thats still £10"
I then asked to query something on the letter, where it says claimant instead of defendant. She immediately admitted that this was a mistake and emailed me an amended copy of the Notice of Hearing.
In hindsight I should have asked for the original to be sent as well, but the new one does now have "the defendant" underlined and at the bottom of the page it says "Amended on the 26th January 2021"

So now I have to compile a bundle to send over to VCS / Elms legal and hope that they reply this week. I asked what would happen if I don't get a reply, she said I should just send over my E-Bundle as not agreed. 

What an absolute nightmare....  Should I include these letters in my E-Bundle to prove that my delay in contacting the claimant was the fault of the courts clerk?

nosferatu1001

I would include it at the end as an appendix. no need to shout about it.