Excel - Set aside WON & CASE WON - Excel defeated AGAIN!

milkybk

Sorry just thought - I don't have a laptop though (only desktop), will the court have a PC to access the hearing?

Coupon-mad

They will have to let you join somehow.  Even on your phone (take your charger too).  That's why you turn up, so it becomes the Usher & Court manager's issue to solve to allow you access to justice.

They failed you so far.  If you sit at home they can forget about you but not if you are standing blocking the Usher's desk!

milkybk

Coupon-mad said:

They will have to let you join somehow.  Even on your phone (take your charger too).  That's why you turn up, so it becomes the Usher & Court manager's issue to solve to allow you access to justice.

They failed you so far.  If you sit at home they can forget about you but not if you are standing blocking the Usher's desk!

Understood! I'm not going to roll over and let Excel have a day out in court, don't worry. Comer to far with it all to stop now, need to win the claim.

milkybk

I WON!!!!!!

Case dismissed and I've been awarded around £200!

Thank you all so much!

milkybk

Is there a way for me to request a transcript for my hearing? So I can share it and help others in the future. If legally allowed obviously.

  

patient_dream

milkybk said:

I WON!!!!!!

Case dismissed and I've been awarded around £200!

Thank you all so much!

Well done .... , old SRS won't like the £200 bit    hahaha

B789

Congratulations. Can you give us more detail on what happened?

A transcript will cost you more than wha you have been awarded, assuming you can even get one. You are better off just writing what happened in your own words.

milkybk

patient_dream said:

milkybk said:

I WON!!!!!!

Case dismissed and I've been awarded around £200!

Thank you all so much!

Well done .... , old SRS won't like the £200 bit    hahaha

Thank you!

B789 said:

Congratulations. Can you give us more detail on what happened?

A transcript will cost you more than wha you have been awarded, assuming you can even get one. You are better off just writing what happened in your own words.

Sure - The Judge was very friendly and made sure to put all parties at ease etc before we started, he was happy for it to be an informal occasion. 

Understandably he hadn't had time to go through all my pack but he mentioned that it was extremely comprehensive (thanks to this board who helped) and well presented etc. 

I made sure to point out to the Judge that Excel had refused to provide the PDT logs in the Set Aside hearing, that they now relied on for the claim. He dismissed Excels claim that the PDT logs proved drivers could make payment at that time, as he said that was circumstantial and therefore wasn't applicable. I also pointed out to the Judge that many of Excel's exhibits were stock images from a PC or were extremely poor quality and illegible in their pack.

The Judge agreed that the lighting was extremely poor in the car park, so any motorist at night would struggle to see the signs at a glance. Whilst Excel argued that my photos were taken a year later and that I wasn't the driver, the Judge agreed that on the balance of probability it was more than likely that lighting was just as poor at the time of the alleged contravention. The videos definitely helped here, I had to share my screen and play them through YouTube, as the Judge didn't have access to them himself. He agreed that the videos clearly showed that a driver had little to no chance of seeing any T&C's, he also specifically pointed out to Excel that the huge "welcome to the car park sign" dwarfed the tiny T&C sign, which again, at night time you could barely see.

I pointed out to the Judge that my WS proved that the signs and NTK were not POFA compliant and therefore they couldn't pursue the keeper. He said that it is for Excel to prove the case against me, not for me to do the opposite.

He did say that the Claimants letter stating it had a contract to pursue the keeper/driver wasn't actually a contract and was a drafted document solely by Excel. Whilst he agreed it wasn't proof he did say that I would need to have requested specific documents from Excel to have the claim struck off for that reason. So something to take from this - I didn't do well enough on this point and needed more evidence of this. 

Costs - Excel tried to claim that the set aside etc was settled, however my order from it in my WS showed costs were reserved. The Judge did say to me that I was asking for too much, in terms of time taken to prepare my Defence and WS etc. But he did award me for both the Set Aside time and then the maximum allowed for the hearing today.

The Judge knew the Claimants representative well, so I imagine he has to deal with a lot of this cases unfortunately. 

In terms of Excel's representative - He was clearly not particularly familiar with my case and like in the set aside hearing, seemed mainly focussed on discrediting anything I had to say or anything in my WS etc, rather than focussing on their own evidence. He continuously pulled strange faces as I spoke, in quite a condescending manor, as if in his opinion I had no right to speak the way I did etc. Thankfully the Judge seemed perfectly happy with how I conducted myself. The Judge did say that when we spoke about costs I was a little to emotive in terms of how Excel had made me feel etc, which is probably fair, as for me this is a huge deal obviously but for the Judge/Courts this is a very small matter.

No matter, Excel lost, twice!

B789

Well written account of the proceedings. You certainly put a lot of effort into this claim and it has paid off. Hopefully, the experience has taught you a valuable life lesson.

Which court/judge?

milkybk

B789 said:

Well written account of the proceedings. You certainly put a lot of effort into this claim and it has paid off. Hopefully, the experience has taught you a valuable life lesson.

Which court/judge?

Thank you. It's certainly been an interesting journey. I'm glad I defended myself throughout and didn't let them push me around. I couldn't have done it without the support of this forum. So to everyone who's posted, supported me and replied countless times, thank you, sincerely. If my thread, WS, defence or anything else can be a help to anyone else on these forums then I'll obviously be willing to share everything or for others to use it.

Court for both the claim hearing and set aside was Milton Keynes County Court.
Set aside hearing was Judge McDonagh
Claim hearing was Judge Lynch

Both Judge's were very polite, helpful and understanding - I also felt they were fair, they did genuinely listen to both accounts. Judge Lynch allowed me to ask a lot of cross examination questions too, throughout the proceeding.