Statement of Defence attached (cloning case) – need to mail in 48 hours. What do you think of it? :)

stevebanjo

Thanks @Coupon-mad, I've sent a message to David via a link you gave (although the form states that maximum defence value is £900) – but I really want to mail & email this Statement of Defence off tomorrow, Thursday am at the very latest, so there's not much time for him to pick up and respond. Let's see  

I would have shared my Statement of Defence earlier but it took 48 hours to get my account approved here on MSE, and then the nightmares of posting links... 

I'm not categorically accusing blackmail. I'm giving that to UKPC as an optional, final defence (which they obviously won't take). I'm in fact giving them 3 defences to choose from for their behaviour. As you'll see from my Statement of Defence, I'm saying that, given that I gave UKPC the police crime reference number 3 times (by letter, by email, by phone), proving I was the confirmed victim of a cloning, and yet they're still pursuing me for money owed to them by the criminals who cloned my number plate, there are only 3 logical explanations for their "unreasonable behaviour": 

1) They didn't call West Midlands Police to check out the crime reference - in which case their pursuit of me is negligence/breach of duty of care (by omission), vexatious litigation and harassment

2) They did call WMP but decided to proceed with a county court claim out of a ridiculous belief that that was winnable – in which case vexatious litigation and harassment

3) They did call WMP, verified that I was innocent, but have pursued me for money anyway – in which case, ipso facto, the only logical explanation is attempted blackmail

I'm trying to box them into a logical corner. The point is to say to UKPC: "What other explanation can you possibly give if not one of those 3? Because all 3 of those are either criminal or tortious, and [here] is therefore my counterclaim (1,2 or 3) depending on what your justification is." 

Coupon-mad

I know about the minimum value but your counterclaim is 4 figures.  Hence it is the right sort of case.

DO NOT ACCUSE CRIMINALITY.

Norma Wilshaw got clobbered for £3000 in costs for daring to repeat the word 'fraud' because the Judge in the first hearing had used that word.  The small claims track is not the place for those sort of accusations.

OPS v Wilshaw.

Why do you want this done tomorrow?

B789

The "service date" of the claim is 5 days after the "issue date". If your claim is dated 14th August, then you have until 4 pm on Monday 18th of September. If day 29 after the "issue date" falls on a weekend or bank holiday, you have until 4 p.m. on the next working day.

If you are hell-bent on rushing this, so be it. However, as of now, you have another 6 days to file your defence.

stevebanjo

Thank you both – I really appreciate the continuing advice

@B789 – Great, thanks. Actually just got off the phone to Northampton and yes, they confirmed that I have until Monday 18th as you say (but they also said best to get in by this Friday). I'd rather Special Delivery my defence as well as emailing, just to be double-sure (because I know email isn't 100% reliable in these circumstances), which is why I feel the urgency to be done by Thursday. I don't want to leave it until the very last possible second; it would fritter my nerves. 

I'm not "hell-bent on rushing this" — at all! : smiley: I've spent days dealing with this specious claim already, about an incident that has nothing to do with me or my car, and 3.5 days of intense work drafting my defence and witness statement and reading up on case law. (Been quite fun actually, in lots of ways! Learnt a lot.) I have to get back to work and earn money and, at some point, draw a line; I can't get into a sunk cost fallacy. So those are the reasons I want to get this finalised and sent off, so I can go back to doing my job. It's basically an open-and-shut case and UKPC would, I am 99% sure, just contact to settle before letting it get to court – so I don't want to refine endlessly when they're so likely to settle anyway. They have no leg to stand on.

@Coupon-mad – again, thanks: 

• I've now spoken with David. He was super super helpful
• In answer to why I want it done asap, see my comments to @B789
• Thanks for OPS v Wilshaw. Very interesting, but as I understand it the judge imposed the costs ultimately because he adjudged her counterclaim to be invalid (because she had actually parked in their car park for 11 mins). My case is very different – it is not my car, I was not in Coventry, and UKPC should know this if they'd read my appeal – so they're just being negligent/dumb. Nevertheless, I do take your broader point about... 
• Re: "criminality" and not alleging it – message received loud and clear. Thank you for the very valuable advice. I did not realise allegations of criminality were verboten. I think I was waylaid by harassment's being a criminal offence, but also a standard counterclaim/defence on these forums, and did not realise harassment could also be a civil charge as well as criminal. The main point – your bit in CAPS – is obviously invaluable advice. 

It's interesting. The challenge with the criminality point (which I now have to solve) is that (as stated above in post #7) I was trying to box UKPC into a corner by saying they could only plausibly, logically offer 1 of 3 explanations for their unreasonable behaviour –  each of which would trigger a damage claims but for a different reason – i.e.,  forcing them to choose sh*t sandwich A, sh*t sandwich B or sh*t sandwich C as their mealy-mouthed justification. 

Without Explanation 3 (i.e., blackmail), that tripartite watertight logic (i.e., that these are the only logical explanations) falls down somewhat, as one obvious explanation is left hanging. So do you think it's valid (or even acceptable, to say in my defence something along the lines of:

"#3: The only other possible explanation, is that the the Claimant did call West Midlands Police with the crime reference number, did review the police evidence and therefore established that the Defendant was innocent, but then continued pursuing him me for money anyway. Since this would constitute the criminal offence of blackmail (defined in section 21 of the Theft Act 1968, as “making an unwarranted demand with menaces” with the view to gaining something, monetary or otherwise, from someone you know to be innocent of owing you anything), and therefore a police matter, we shall not proceed further in exploring it. 

stevebanjo

Urgh. I don't know why my paragraphs keep coming out all spaced out like that

B789

stevebanjo said:

I'd rather Special Delivery my defence as well as emailing, just to be double-sure (because I know email isn't 100% reliable in these circumstances), which is why I feel the urgency to be done by Thursday. I don't want to leave it until the very last possible second; it would fritter my nerves. 

No, no, no! Do not use or waste your money on Special Delivery. If someone refuses to sign for something, all that proves is that it wasn't delivered and you are then screwed. As per the advice in the Newbies/FAQ thread, if you insist on using snail mail, just post from any post office with a free proof of posting certificate.

Email is by far the best way to submit your documents. Your defence as a pdf attachment to an email addressed to the CNBC and to the claimant of their solicitor, if they are using one and also CCd to yourself is the best possible proof of delivery. The CNBC will send you an auto response almost immediately and, unless you get a bounced email from the claimant/solicitor, together with your own received email is proof enough that it was sent and delivered.

Have you fully read the Newbies/FAQ thread?

stevebanjo

B789 said:

No, no, no! Do not use or waste your money on Special Delivery. If someone refuses to sign for something, all that proves is that it wasn't delivered and you are then screwed. As per the advice in the Newbies/FAQ thread, if you insist on using snail mail, just post from any post office with a free proof of posting certificate.

I have fully read the Newbies thread, yes – several times in fact, over the last few weeks. And also KeithP's summary of how to submit your defence via email. 

I think a misunderstanding here though. I was talking about sending it Special Delivery to the Northampton CNBC – not to get a signature, but just so that I know, for my own peace of mind, that it's been guaranteed delivery in hard copy. I'm fine with the £10 cost or whatever to have that additional peace of mind. The CNBC have no reason to refuse to sign. I will also submit it via email to the CNBC by the method you've mentioned, and as detailed in those 2 MSE posts above. (But both those posts – "Newbies" and Template – contain a lot of quite alarming statements in catastrophising language, not least around email submissions and them being received/confirmed. Hence I would rather pay to send it Special and have the extra peace of mind.) 

The advice in those posts about not using Special/Recorded because if they "refuse to sign you have no proof", is about when writing  to the Claimant/solicitors, not about sending to the CNBC. I in fact had no intention of sending my defence to the Claimant. As I understand it, the CNBC will send them a copy. I'm not lifting a finger for the Claimant unless I absolutely have to. 

KeithP

But have you seen inside the mailrooms of some of these large organisations?

It's up to you of course, but I think I would trust an email system rather than an envelope getting misdelivered once it is inside that large Northampton building.
And you will have an automatic email acknowledgement once you email is delivered - i.e. within seconds of you sending it. You don't get that automatic, or timely, confirmation with Royal Mail's services, do you?

stevebanjo

I take the point, thank you @KeithP and @B789

Anyway, it's somewhat ancillary; I'm pretty comfortable I understand all the process elements to follow (after weeks  lurking on these boards, reading all the excellent advice on next steps, including your own ).

Really, I'm here mostly to get thoughts/feedback on my actual case. I wanted to chew over what my best defence is, whether people think my current arguments will stick, and suggestions for precedents that might be useful.

In short:

— What elements to consider in my particular case (i.e., A cloning 150 miles away from my actual car when I was also overseas. A cloning confirmed by the police, appealed to UKPC and its solicitors several times with the crime reference number, but apparently ignored and now escalated to county court without having received any written or verbal response to my appeal or why it's being rejected/ignored. Leaving me, therefore, verified an innocent party by law enforcement and unconnected to the incident, but completely impotent to stop the Claimant from demanding money if they won't read my appeal)

— The substantive elements of my defence argument, i.e.,
1. Breach of duty of care by omission (the failure to read my appeal or substantiate it with the police)
2. Harassment;
3. Vexatious litigation (since a cursory look at my appeal would have stopped this ever getting to CC proceedings)

— And the counterclaims I"m therefore seeking for these 3 elements: 
What do you think are viable amounts for these 3? 

I'm citing in particular:

• Dammermann v Lanyon Bowdler LLP [2017] EWCA Civ 269  

• Majrowski v Guy's and St Thomas's NHS Trust [2006] 

• Ferguson v British Gas Trading Ltd [2009] EWCA Civ 46 

• Allen v Southwark [2008] EWCA Civ 1478 

• Baron v CPS (unreported, 13 June 2000)   

• Sharma v Jay [2003] EWHC 1230   

• Spearing v Jackson [2000] CLY 169

• Clohessy v Homes [2003]

• VCS v Ferguson, 2021

• McLoughlin v Jones [2002] QB 1312

Thank you!

Coupon-mad

DO NOT use signed for delivery to a black hole call centre. They'll lose it.  They share these massive offices with the TEC (Traffic Enforcement Centre) and it will go to them by mistake.