Excel PCN - AoS submitted, defence drafted, advice appreciated

Butterycrumpetlover

I appreciate that, thanks for the information.

Butterycrumpetlover

Small update.

As expected, Excel have offered a reduction in response to my intended Defence, whilst at the same time ditching Elms Legal and saying that they are going to represent themselves.

Bring it on.

Fruitcake

They haven't ditched Elms. They use Elms to do back office work. Once that job is done, Excel take over, although they may still send an advocate from a company near to the court who won't be able to answer embarrassing questions they wouldn't like to answer themselves in person.

I applaud your tenacity though.

Butterycrumpetlover

Interesting update as of today, somewhat unrelated to my ongoing case but potentially useful.

A friend recently received a parking ticket from Excel for the same car park for a very similar reason. They appealed it and Excel 'cancelled (it) with immediate effect'.

The only substantial difference between my friends situation and mine is that they didn't accidently submit the incorrect VRM.

He's given me permission to use documentation showing all of this in my case, should it reach court.

KeithP

Well yes, I haven't read back through your thread to see what you are accused of doing wrong, but if it is for entering a wrong reg no in the machine, I cannot see the similarity between your case and your friend's case.

Even so, I don't see the relevance of another incident.
It's a bit like getting stopped for speeding but then complaining that all the other cars were exceeding the limit but only you were stopped.

Butterycrumpetlover

I received the 'Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track (Hearing)' document in the post today, with a hearing date of the start of October. Is it advisable I don't specify that date exactly on this forum?

The document confirms the 14 days notice period for the witness statement and any other accompanying documents which I believe need to be physically sent to both the claimant and the court.

Apart from continuing work on the drafted statement from a few months ago and re-reading through the threads that I have bookmarked, is there any other advice anyone can offer at this stage?

B789

There's no reason not to tell us the date. It's not a secret and the court itself will publish the hearing date for anyone who cares to see.

Does your allocation statement say that you must provide a physical bundle? Most courts today will accept a PDF version with only a few insisting on a physical bundle.

If you've already prepared your WS, you will need to go through it and make sure it is up to date. If you're referring to your defence, that is different. Your WS is your version of events written in the first person. There are plenty of examples to get an idea on what needs to be in your bundle.

Coupon-mad

A recent good example WS bundle or two are  newly linked in the NEWBIES thread (last week) but you need to remove the stuff specific to their cases and obviously replace the first photo exhibits with your own.

But the exemplar WS linked in the NEWBIES thread is useful because it DOES show 3 standard Exhibits that everyone should be using, plus the usual headings, standard recommended intro, stuff about the DLUHC and the statement of truth format.

Butterycrumpetlover

B789 said:

There's no reason not to tell us the date. It's not a secret and the court itself will publish the hearing date for anyone who cares to see.

Ok thanks, the date of the hearing is the 2nd of October.

B789 said:
Does your allocation statement say that you must provide a physical bundle? Most courts today will accept a PDF version with only a few insisting on a physical bundle.

Simply put, no, it doesn't specify, but it also doesn't necessarily say the opposite.

1. "each party must deliver to the other party and to the court office copied copies of all documents... (...include the letter making the claim and any reply)"
2. "signed by the witness and dated"
3. "where parties wish to file a bundle digitally, the represented parties' solicitor shall lodge a paginated electronic bundle by 12pm on the last working day prior to the hearing"
4. "Any documents filed digitally parties must ensure that these are clearly named..."

I'm struggling to interpret it at the moment to be honest with you. I'm very warm and I've just finished paternity leave, apologies.

My WS is very undercooked. I think I will implement it into the exemplar WS that Coupon-mad has mentioned as it is similar to how I imagined mine to be, but laid out nicer and worded much betterer-er!

B789

I think point 3 refers to "digital bundles" so I would imagine that clarifies it for you.

Regarding "signed and dated" statements, I have recently been advising a friend of a friend on their claim and every document they had to sign, they just typed their name on the document and this was accepted by the courts.