Remote parking hearing tomorrow after a succesful CCJ set aside

lethal_2

I have read the newbie post and would appreciate some advice.

I am bit overwhelmed as I got a small claim hearing on tonmorrow and I’ve just realised the claimant (CPM via Gladstones) have filed a 60-page counter argument to my initial defence and I am very tempted to cave in and just pay the total sums owed. Having said that, I want to stay strong and get some advice to see if my two key arguments would be sufficient for all of the legal jargon that they’ve added to their defence (which focused on my secondary points to my initial defence). 

My key arguments are:

1. Spelling mistakes on my surname – This hearing is being transferred to small claims after my CCJ was successfully set aside last year. CPM spelt my surname incorrectly and therefore my argument of not being informed about the CCJ was accepted by the judge (and hence CCJ set aside). My argument now is that all communications as part of this claim has the same spelling and therefore should also be void (including the overall amount due which has increased from the petty £60 fine as I did not receive any formal follow up communication).
2. Parking ticket had fallen to the floor – The real reason to why I got the initial parking ticket was that my parking permit had fallen to the floor due to the winter temperatures outside causing the stickiness of the permit holder to fall. As the permit holder was also provided by the claimant, my argument here is that the claimant should take some responsibility of this as I left the vehicle with the permit clearly being on display. Sadly, this argument was rejected using the CPM appeal process and my argument thereafter is that I was not informed about the outcome of this due to the spelling mistake of my surname causing me to mark their letter as potential spam/junk. 

Would these two arguments be sufficient for the hearing? The claimant has thrown in way too many legal buzzwords regarding some of the minor points that I used in my initial defence which are all secondary (including my challenge to the claimant of using the courts as an aggressive automated debt recovery process and the contracts in place for the permit). These points are all secondary and digress from my key arguments. Question for the forum – Do I need to defend each point that is counter-raised, or can I just stick to my main arguments and hope for the best?

Additionally, the claimant has emailed me a “BUNDLE” of all documents compiled together. The only thing that I have sent is my defence to the claim. Is this sufficient or should I have sent them a bundle too? 

Appreciate the last-minute advice and somewhat panicking.

bargepole

I have read the newbie post and would appreciate some advice.

Clearly you didn't read it very thoroughly, or the Notice of Allocation from the Court, otherwise you would have realised that you needed to file and serve a witness statement and your evidence at least 14 days before the hearing.

Unless you get a very accommodating Judge, it's very unlikely that you can just rock up to the hearing with those two wafer-thin arguments and expect to succeed.

lethal_2

bargepole said:

I have read the newbie post and would appreciate some advice.

Clearly you didn't read it very thoroughly, or the Notice of Allocation from the Court, otherwise you would have realised that you needed to file and serve a witness statement and your evidence at least 14 days before the hearing.

Unless you get a very accommodating Judge, it's very unlikely that you can just rock up to the hearing with those two wafer-thin arguments and expect to succeed.

Do you mean a statement of the truth along with a defence to the claim? If so, I have submitted that already. Please do confirm if that's the same as WS?

bargepole

lethal_2 said:

Do you mean a statement of the truth along with a defence to the claim? If so, I have submitted that already. Please do confirm if that's the same as WS?

The document in question is called a Witness Statement, and is signed at the end by a Statement of Truth. You can see the format of that from the Claimant's WS in the Gladstones' bundle.

Umkomaas

As you now have 5 separate threads about the same parking charge, it may well be in one of those you have drafted a WS. You need to trawl back through them to check. 

It was suggested previously that everything be kept on one single thread. The confusion now arising might be as a result of all the free-standing threads left hanging around the forum. 

lethal_2

So looks like all I have filed a Statement of Truth along with my Defence. Looks like I have not filed my WS? What should I do now? What is the purpose of the WS if I have already provided the Statement of Truth + Defence. 

Umkomaas

So looks like all I have filed a Statement of Truth

A Statement of Truth (SoT) is a standard short paragraph that is required to conclude a Defence, and later in the process, to conclude a Witness Statement. The SoT is exactly the same wording for both. 

Can you show us what you mean by the SoT you have filed?

lethal_2

Umkomaas said:

So looks like all I have filed a Statement of Truth

A Statement of Truth (SoT) is a standard short paragraph that is required to conclude a Defence, and later in the process, to conclude a Witness Statement. The SoT is exactly the same wording for both. 

Can you show us what you mean by the SoT you have filed?

Sure, it includes:

• Claim No, Claimant’s Name, Claimant’s Ref, Defendant’s Name, Signature, Date
• Statement of Truth and to quote: I believe that the facts stated in the attached defence are true.

Is this sufficient? I've looked up all my court documents and nowhere does it explicitly say WS needs to be provided hence why I must of missed it. 

Umkomaas

lethal_2 said:

Umkomaas said:

So looks like all I have filed a Statement of Truth

A Statement of Truth (SoT) is a standard short paragraph that is required to conclude a Defence, and later in the process, to conclude a Witness Statement. The SoT is exactly the same wording for both. 

Can you show us what you mean by the SoT you have filed?

Sure, it includes:

• Claim No, Claimant’s Name, Claimant’s Ref, Defendant’s Name, Signature, Date
• Statement of Truth and to quote: I believe that the facts stated in the attached defence are true.

Is this sufficient? I've looked up all my court documents and nowhere does it explicitly say WS needs to be provided hence why I must of missed it. 

That's definitely not a Witness Statement. The actual sentence you have used in the SoT was replaced by a much more detailed one (albeit just one paragraph) around April of last year. 

I have no idea what you can do to recover your position in time for tomorrow, just hope you can blag it on the day.  Others may throw in some comments, but I'm at an end, I'm afraid. 

lethal_2

Umkomaas said:

lethal_2 said:

Umkomaas said:

So looks like all I have filed a Statement of Truth

A Statement of Truth (SoT) is a standard short paragraph that is required to conclude a Defence, and later in the process, to conclude a Witness Statement. The SoT is exactly the same wording for both. 

Can you show us what you mean by the SoT you have filed?

Sure, it includes:

• Claim No, Claimant’s Name, Claimant’s Ref, Defendant’s Name, Signature, Date
• Statement of Truth and to quote: I believe that the facts stated in the attached defence are true.

Is this sufficient? I've looked up all my court documents and nowhere does it explicitly say WS needs to be provided hence why I must of missed it. 

That's definitely not a Witness Statement. The actual sentence you have used in the SoT was replaced by a much more detailed one (albeit just one paragraph) around April of last year. 

I have no idea what you can do to recover your position in time for tomorrow, just hope you can blag it on the day.  Others may throw in some comments, but I'm at an end, I'm afraid. 

OK due to COVID delays, I actually submitted my SoT prior to April last year and it's been correctly recorded/dated by the courts and claimant before April. Does this mean it is sufficient if I say my understanding of a WS = SoT was the same?

Umkomaas

Does this mean it is sufficient if I say my understanding of a WS = SoT was the same?

I can't see that helping any. A WS typically runs to a dozen (or more) pages of A4, describing the event and attaching numerous pieces of evidence - photographs, maps, legal quotations, etc.