Small claims against me

Were_Doomed

Littleconfused said:

Thank you very much for your help. Iv never dealt with anything like this and feel out of my depth with it totally. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do and when. I looked online and seems I need to wait for a letter of allocation but when can I get me side of the story to the judge? Surely he would want both sides before a court case? 

Have you done the Acknowledgment of Service (AoS)? Do this about 5 or so days after the claim date - do it online. DO NOT enter anything in the Defence box - not even a dot. Anything you do enter in there becomes your whole defence! Doing the AoS in a timely manner gives you effectively about 33 days to develop and file your defence.

THIS is why I advised you to read the NEWBIES FAQ thread in the Parking board. If it's a real claim then you don't want to be guessing what to do.

bradders1983

Is it not worth mentioning in the reply that she has no idea how he has arrived at a figure of £5k?

Littleconfused

I got a money claim notification from the courts first and it asked if I was disputing all the claim, some of the claim or none, and it asked if I agreed to mediation. This I spoke to citizens advice about and returned the form. Then I had a witness statement with a photo of the receipt, advert, and text sent all as evidence, but from a company called Lawgistics which I see are motor trade advisers, he obviously used them to to do all his paperwork. 

There was nothing to say what happens next or why I got it sent to me.

Aylesbury_Duck

Littleconfused said:

I got a money claim notification from the courts first and it asked if I was disputing all the claim, some of the claim or none, and it asked if I agreed to mediation. This I spoke to citizens advice about and returned the form. Then I had a witness statement with a photo of the receipt, advert, and text sent all as evidence, but from a company called Lawgistics which I see are motor trade advisers, he obviously used them to to do all his paperwork. 

There was nothing to say what happens next or why I got it sent to me.

Hang on a minute, this story is changing very rapidly. 24 hours ago you'd received court papers out of the blue and didn't know what to do. You've had good advice pointing you towards help and now you tell us you've already received communication from the court, sought Citizens Advice guidance and returned the form, all in less than a day!  Now you've introduced a second correspondence from a legal representative!

You've got to be honest with people from the start. Frankly, it looks like you're selectively drip-feeding information to get the answers you want, and wasting people's time.  This is just reinforcing my view that you know the dealer has a valid argument and are trying to wriggle out of it.  

How much of what you've told us is actually true, and is there any more pertinent information you're withholding?  If you play this game with the court, you have no chance.

steampowered

It sounds like you have already filed your "Defence".

The next step is for the case to be allocated to a particular county court. The court will then set a hearing date, and issue directions. The directions will usually say that each party must send a copy of any evidence they want to rely on to the other party, at least 14 days before the hearing date.

Then, you go to the hearing and the judge makes a decision.

When you say "I have no idea how to write my Defence" - do you mean a witness statement? It sounds like you have already filed your Defence. A witness statement is not strictly necessary though you can prepare one if you wish - there is guidance available online about how to do this.

Littleconfused

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Littleconfused said:

I got a money claim notification from the courts first and it asked if I was disputing all the claim, some of the claim or none, and it asked if I agreed to mediation. This I spoke to citizens advice about and returned the form. Then I had a witness statement with a photo of the receipt, advert, and text sent all as evidence, but from a company called Lawgistics which I see are motor trade advisers, he obviously used them to to do all his paperwork. 

There was nothing to say what happens next or why I got it sent to me.

Hang on a minute, this story is changing very rapidly. 24 hours ago you'd received court papers out of the blue and didn't know what to do. You've had good advice pointing you towards help and now you tell us you've already received communication from the court, sought Citizens Advice guidance and returned the form, all in less than a day!  Now you've introduced a second correspondence from a legal representative!

You've got to be honest with people from the start. Frankly, it looks like you're selectively drip-feeding information to get the answers you want, and wasting people's time.  This is just reinforcing my view that you know the dealer has a valid argument and are trying to wriggle out of it.  

How much of what you've told us is actually true, and is there any more pertinent information you're withholding?  If you play this game with the court, you have no chance.

Maybe I’m just not explaining very well. About a week after buying the car I relieved the money claim, on the advice of Cab I filled it in then nothing until now. I bought the car in July and the long witness statement that came  about 10 days ago is what has left me confused as it  didn’t say what I was now meant to do hence coming on here. I did look at Newbies but it didn’t seem to relate to my problem, mainly parking charges, I didn’t think that was the same as a money claim. I guess iv mucked up then, I just didn’t know what to do hence cab helping me, now it seems that’s wrong too.

Littleconfused

steampowered said:

It sounds like you have already filed your "Defence".

The next step is for the case to be allocated to a particular county court. The court will then set a hearing date, and issue directions. The directions will usually say that each party must send a copy of any evidence they want to rely on to the other party, at least 14 days before the hearing date.

Then, you go to the hearing and the judge makes a decision.

When you say "I have no idea how to write my Defence" - do you mean a witness statement? It sounds like you have already filed your Defence. A witness statement is not strictly necessary though you can prepare one if you wish - there is guidance available online about how to do this.

I’m guessing what he has sent me is exactly that, nothing was very clear and now it seems I won’t get a chance to get my defence in prior to a court case then, is that right? Ok well I’ll try and find details online but it’s a bit of a mine field .

Aylesbury_Duck

I think I'll leave others to it.  It's too much hard work to try and advise when the story shifts and develops so quickly, let alone when I'm not convinced that you're entirely innocent in all of this.  

Were_Doomed

Littleconfused said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Littleconfused said:

I got a money claim notification from the courts first and it asked if I was disputing all the claim, some of the claim or none, and it asked if I agreed to mediation. This I spoke to citizens advice about and returned the form. Then I had a witness statement with a photo of the receipt, advert, and text sent all as evidence, but from a company called Lawgistics which I see are motor trade advisers, he obviously used them to to do all his paperwork. 

There was nothing to say what happens next or why I got it sent to me.

Hang on a minute, this story is changing very rapidly. 24 hours ago you'd received court papers out of the blue and didn't know what to do. You've had good advice pointing you towards help and now you tell us you've already received communication from the court, sought Citizens Advice guidance and returned the form, all in less than a day!  Now you've introduced a second correspondence from a legal representative!

You've got to be honest with people from the start. Frankly, it looks like you're selectively drip-feeding information to get the answers you want, and wasting people's time.  This is just reinforcing my view that you know the dealer has a valid argument and are trying to wriggle out of it.  

How much of what you've told us is actually true, and is there any more pertinent information you're withholding?  If you play this game with the court, you have no chance.

Maybe I’m just not explaining very well. About a week after buying the car I relieved the money claim, on the advice of Cab I filled it in then nothing until now. I bought the car in July and the long witness statement that came  about 10 days ago is what has left me confused as it  didn’t say what I was now meant to do hence coming on here. I did look at Newbies but it didn’t seem to relate to my problem, mainly parking charges, I didn’t think that was the same as a money claim. I guess iv mucked up then, I just didn’t know what to do hence cab helping me, now it seems that’s wrong too.

Oh for goodness sake! I told you that the fact it is about parking charges is entirely irrelevant! The process you need to follow as a defendant is exactly the same!

steampowered

Littleconfused said:

I’m guessing what he has sent me is exactly that, nothing was very clear and now it seems I won’t get a chance to get my defence in prior to a court case then, is that right? Ok well I’ll try and find details online but it’s a bit of a mine field .

Yes, it sounds like you have already filed your "Defence". You must have written something in it !!!!!

You will have an opportunity to file a "witness statement" if you want. The court will set directions for a hearing. Those directions will set a hearing date and tell you when to file your evidence. This might not be for several months given the current circumstances.

It sounds like the Claimant has sent you a "witness statement" already, but that is premature of him to do that before the court has set a hearing date.