Claim Form and confusion. OPS and several bottom feeders. WON at Hearing😁😁

Umkomaas

Thank you very much for the part update (looking forward to more tomorrow). Your advice to others going through the process about corresponding with the PPC and their solicitors, and keeping a disciplined and structured record of everything they respond to and with is well reasoned. I hope they read and digest your advice. 

However, I worry that it will fall on many deaf ears as quite a number of those who come to the forum for our help have great difficulty in dealing with much of this stuff, both administratively and intellectually. But for those who are self sufficient, disciplined, and administratively adept, they can't get much better direction than that given by you above. 

Very well done on your win .... now to tomorrow. 

95Rollers

Firstly well done 👏 excellent result and what a shambolic circus from ZZPS/ QDR/ OPS constantly changing their minds and not being able to find their !!!!!! with both hands!!!  It should of been binned way before hearing. It was both useful and good hearing your partial court report. I look forward to reading the rest of it and hopefully in my upcoming case against OPS/ DCBL draw some reference on their sheer incompetence and love of bending the rules!  I hope you got some costs awarded for having your time (and stationery) being wasted on these clowns ineptitude!

Johnersh

I spend my life creating letters that can one day be shown to the judge, so add my agreement to the need to preserve everything and present your paperwork clearly and logically.  Create a folder at the outset (paper or electronic) and save everything within it. 

CVP - neither good nor intuitive. God only knows why the court service can't use MS Teams or Zoom like everyone else. Why invent a platform that someone else has already spent many millions of dollars developing. 

nicestrawb

Have to agree also about keeping records and communication. I didn't have to go to court in the end as I found other means, but had OPS done so the judge would have seen that I'd kept records of everything, responded consistently even to the point of chasing when the other side were late in terms of PAP etc. Not just that though, but with the mindset that getting to court can literally take years it was useful to keep a level of contact and familiarity with my own case. Had I gone to court it would likely have been 4 years after the event and I'd have probably forgotten everything otherwise. They rely on that to some degree so worth being prepared.

nicestrawb

Even to the point that I had a video of me delivering a letter by hand to Val himself as evidence I had done it haha!

patient_dream

95Rollers said:

Firstly well done 👏 excellent result and what a shambolic circus from ZZPS/ QDR/ OPS constantly changing their minds and not being able to find their !!!!!! with both hands!!!  It should of been binned way before hearing. It was both useful and good hearing your partial court report. I look forward to reading the rest of it and hopefully in my upcoming case against OPS/ DCBL draw some reference on their sheer incompetence and love of bending the rules!  I hope you got some costs awarded for having your time (and stationery) being wasted on these clowns ineptitude!

I doubt these money scammers understand how stupid they look and have become ?

95Rollers

I think they all have a degree of shamelessness so it's just water off a ducks back to them. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to be unscrupulous - to have zero integrity nor empathy or principles!?! I really can't get my head round that mindset and even though there is lots of money to be made it wouldn't feel right so would be worthless knowing somebody has suffered a hard earned loss. It would be interesting to get into the heads of these PPC moguls...

hju456

Apologies for the delay in posting this report.

Held at Worthing Country Court via CVP.

Before DDJ Worthley.

The Judge introduced himself and asked me to confirm my full name and informed me that any recording of the hearing is prohibited.
He explained that Court are still trying to contact the Claimant or the claimant’s representatives but would continue to try for a short while more as it might be a technical issue.
After a short while the Judge began the hearing and stated that the hearing could take place in the absence of the Claimant .

He was very clear in his explanations and said that having read the papers from both sides he was originally prepared to make this a preliminary hearing based on 4 legal arguments, although he didn’t elaborate on this I believe that the points were 1.Landlord authority. 2. Signage. 3. POFA. and 4. Unrecoverable charges.

The Judge informed me that no application had been requested by the Claimant to submit a late supplementary Witness Statement and asked me to comment on it. 

In the first witness statement it was claimed at least 7 times that a compliant NTD had been attached to the vehicle yet this was never produced. Their supplementary statement bizarre stated
“In my first witness statement I stated that a NTD had been placed on the car windscreen.What was actually attached was a envelope informing the driver that we would be obtaining the vehicle details”  So OPS thought an empty envelope was POFA compliant, the mind boggles. It boggles even more when the supplementary witness statement confirms that the fist statement cannot be true.

The Judge commenting on my witness statement and evidence bundle was impressed by the fact I had maintained my stance and continually informed OPS that POFA had not been complied with and had done all I could to avoid Court. He said that my evidence was consistent with my statement and the Claimant had produced no “forensic evidence “ to back their Claim. 

 He then stated that as the Claimant or their representatives had not appeared or notified the Court that they were unable to attend he would be striking out the Claim. 

The Judge went on to say that he was fully aware of OPS and had dealt with their Claims before. 

On to costs: The usual comment about being small Claim and costs do not always follow. 

Judge : “ did you take time off work Mr ........”
Me      : ” yes sir I did”
Judge  :   “as the hearing has lasted less than 15 minutes I am not inclined to give you a full day allowance “
Me. : “Your honour I am self employed and I have had to pay someone to open up my shop for the day, and therefore the 15 minutes does represent a whole day in expenses “
Judge: “ ok I understand. Are you prepared to swear on oath to this”
Me : “absolutely you Honour “
Judge: “Mr ...... you are awarded £95 which is the maximum allowable “

On to may claim for expenses which I had claimed 19 hours at £19ph.

Judge: “Mr ...... I have seen your claim for expenses, and I need you to explain why you have claimed this amount “
Me : “ Your Honour, I believe that the amount of time spent responding to letters and researching is in proportion ”
Judge: “It does not always follow that a Claimant that has brought a Claim and lost is expected to cover the defendant’s cost unless they have acted unreasonable and that this is a small claim. Can you explain to me why you believe that the Claimant has behaved unreasonably ”

Me : “Your Honour for over four years I have corresponded with OPS and all their agents and Solicitors threatening me knowing  that they had no legal right to do so. I have had to assure my wife that our credit file will not be compromised. OPS  are bullies and regrettably most people fall foul of their tactics. They have been informed numerous times that they can not hold the registered keeper liable but they have continued like a runaway train. The supplementary witness statement was sent late and without the Courts permission.The supplementary statement is total conflicted with the first statement. Further the Claimant has failed to attend today and failed to inform you that they could not attend. The Court is being used as a tool to intimidate and threaten people that do not understand their rights Your Honour, I would consider all of this as unreasonable behaviour ”

Judge : “Thank you Mr ........ I shall award you 15hrs at £19 ph which is £285.”

The Order is  The Claim be struck out and costs paid by the Claimant to Mr....... by 4th November.

I asked if the Claimant had the right to appeal and was informed “No their not present to ask the right to appeal ”

The Judge thanked me for attending and wished me I good day, I reciprocated.

In summary : Keep as much documentation as you can, chuck in it in a envelope a shoe box it doesn’t matter but Keep it.
Do not be intimidated by the threats if you are sure of your position.
You have to invest your time in fighting these parasites and you need to do your research.
You will not get better advice and help than on this forum, but you are also expected to help yourself 
The main contributor’s here are both incredible and incredibly busy.
Respect the timeline that is given by KeithP. 

Read threads that are similar to yours.
Respect the Court and always dress appropriately for your hearing.

Good luck to all that are involved with their battles you can win stay strong.

Once again a big thank you to all that contributed to my battle and that are continually helping others. 

Umkomaas

Thank you so much for your court report. It made great reading, especially the description of how the Judge kicked out the OPS case and the reasoned arguments you made for the award of unreasonable behaviour costs. Well done, on all fronts. 🙂

Fruitcake

Well done on your win, your tenacity, and your most excellent court report.