Has anyone used mediation?

CJ198614

Hi, my friend is responding to a court claim for 4 PCNs which were picked up during a chaotic time in her life 4 years ago. They have added charges and brought the total to almost a grand. She decided to challenge and submitted a defence based on the helpful info here. However now she is considering entering mediation and offering to pay the initial charges (£400) to get it out of the way. The photos are pretty damning and she expects the magistrate will take a pretty dim view of her 'not being aware of' or 'not remembering' four different PCNs, even though the firm are taking the mickey wih the charges. Has anyone had any experience with mediation being useful? She feels sick at the thought of going to court. Thanks in advance to anyone who has read.

Redx

No magistrates are involved in civil court claims , just a judge acting as referee

Mediation is not suitable for those car parking charge claims , the mediator expects a settlement , the claimant tends to want full settlement , those people who have tried it are never happy about it and usually fail to settle amicably because they believe that they owe nothing

There is nothing to fear in civil court , no prison , no deportation , no punishment at all , just a financial decision binding on one party or the other party , even if it's zero pounds to both sides

The defendants fear is irrational with no basis in fact , because there is nothing to fear

Four charges is £400 at most , plus legal fees of say £150 or less , so £550 or less if the defendant loses in court

Mediation is over the phone , court is over the phone or video link these days , little practical difference , but adjudicated differently

Name the parking company

Fruitcake

In addition, another person can act as a Lay Representative at the hearing and do most of the talking, provided they are up to speed on the case and the laws surrounding it.

Hopefully she will be following the guide to court written by bargepole that can be found in the second post of the NEWBIES.
Has the case reached the DQ/local court allocation stage yet?
Hs she started on her witness statement yet, using the example in the NEWBIES as a starting point?

As above, please tell us the name of the scammers, and also the location. It may be one that has cropped up on here before.

Ralph-y

some threads for you both to read ...

direct link to court section in newbies thread
.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64350585/#Comment_64350585

and  

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6108153/suggested-template-defence-to-adapt-for-all-parking-charge-cases-where-they-add-false-admin-costs#latest

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

Ralph

CJ198614

Thanks all, I've passed on the threads.  She has just received her Directions questionnaire.  The company is VCS Ltd and the location is Ashton Under Lyne.

Redx

where in Ashton ? , the retail park was Excel but is now ECP , dont think the Snipe is VCS, possibly Highview and the one at the Bowling Alley is UKPC afaik