Vehicle Control Services / Peel

Castle

outwestuk said:

Successful day in court yesterday, if not entirely what I expected. Firstly, VCS appeared 10 minutes late and then only by phone, not Teams as the court was expecting. I don’t think it set a professional look for them.

In the end the judgement was that because the law of agency was not in the claim form and that I had not ask someone to use the car on my behalf, that it did not apply. In any event the Judge pushed on the fact that it was a "matrimonial asset”, and agency was not applicable.

Sounds exactly like what the highest court in the land, (at the time-the House of Lords), found in Launchbury v Morgans in 1972.

patient_dream

Well done, VCS wasted their money again.

Jenni_D

outwestuk said:

So in December I have a virtually identical case. I asked the judge if this judgement could be applied and he laughed but said of course I can use this judgement as evidence. I was curious as it has been raised here that bringing multiple cases could be deemed an abuse of process, but that was not something the judge was open to consider (we didnt have much time at that point as we had run over)

Cause of action estoppel ... the claimant should bring their entire claim instead of drip-feeding claims. Raise this in your defence/WS for the next claim that it should be estopped.

Coupon-mad

Yes indeed, use this win to see the next one off and raise estoppel and Henderson v Henderson, as seen in umpteen defences/witness statements. 

Also include as exhibits for the next one, Launchbury v Morgans and the appeal case of Excel v Smith (hosted in the Parking Prankster case law pages) which deals completely with the 'agency' argument and Excel and VCS are owned by the same person.  It is an abuse and disingenuous of Excel or VCS to keep trying the law of agency argument when they lost at appeal already and KNOW it has no legs. How dare they keep doing this to people?

Send VCS a costs assessment asap for the new trial, showing ALL your time worked out as costs at £19 per hour (or your own hourly business earnings rate if higher) as per CPR 46.  Attach a copy of Excel v Smith and tell them to wind their necks in or you will claim for unreasonableness, especially given they just lost against you in this first claim xxxxxx and should never have split the charges across 2 claims, which offends against the doctrine of cause of action estoppel.

AND WELL DONE!  

Another VCS one (and soon two) bites the dust!

outwestuk

Also include as exhibits for the next one, Launchbury v Morgans and the appeal case of Excel v Smith (hosted in the Parking Prankster case law pages) which deals completely with the 'agency' argument and Excel and VCS are owned by the same person.  It is an abuse and disingenuous of Excel or VCS to keep trying the law of agency argument when they lost at appeal already and KNOW it has no legs. How dare they keep doing this to people?

Its almost like a game to them to intimidate people, by quoting legalese to the public in an attempt for them to admit liability. For a lay person it does require some effort, but the judge asked the right questions to discredit their arguments. Unfortunately, I suspect most people are rabbits in the headlights when it comes to receiving the NTK/NTH such that they pay up the "discounted" rate. It's through forums like this that people should be confident of defending themselves in these unfair practices.

outwestuk

Well the good news is I have now received a notice of discontinuance from VCS on my second court case. What I have learnt is that they will keep going to the last moment possible and you still have to go through the hoops of writing your WS etc.

I seem to have committed a school boy error, as although I submitted a claim for costs in my WS for my first defended case, I didn't realise that I needed to ask the court for those costs to be awarded. Does anyone know if I have any recourse? At the end of the day its still been a good amount of work for 2 victories. Thanks

Coupon-mad

WELL DONE!  

Another VCS one (in fact, for you, now two) bites the dust!

The time to ask for costs was at any hearing and it is too late now unless they discontinued with days to go, in which case it could be argued that a discontinuance was unreasonably late and you'd already suffered wasted costs.

D_P_Dance

The PPC has wasyed your time, consider wasting theirs, read this

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/making-a-small-claim/

outwestuk

Coupon-mad said:

WELL DONE!  

Another VCS one (in fact, for you, now two) bites the dust!

The time to ask for costs was at any hearing and it is too late now unless they discontinued with days to go, in which case it could be argued that a discontinuance was unreasonably late and you'd already suffered wasted costs.

Thank you and thanks to all for your help. I received notification 5 days before the court date when obviously I have done all the work. Is this unreasoanbly late?

outwestuk

D_P_Dance said:

The PPC has wasyed your time, consider wasting theirs, read this

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/making-a-small-claim/

Thank you. Are you suggesting I make a small claim for costs?