Not a hospital car park

LDast

Sigh! You have two options as far as I can see. First is to make yourself available in one way or another to receive the phone call from the mediator. That is up to you, whether you take a satellite phone with you or be in a location that has a mobile phone signal.

The second option you have is as pointed out by @KeithP. If you will not be available for the phone call due to your circumstances, then you can simply pay the alleged debt and be done with it.

There may be a third option but we are not aware that this has ever been tested. You could simply not take the call, for whatever reasons you choose and see if it is referred back to the judge and whether the court decide to sanction you for it. At trial, if it were ever to get that far, the judge may ask you to explain why you did not attend the mediation call and you can mitigate with what you have told us above.

It is not us having any attitude. You came here for advice and it was freely given. If you are not happy or don't agree with the advice, fair enough. Your choice. Getting stroppy with us because you don't like the options is not our problem. 

Coupon-mad

Or:

...hope to get a Mediation call in September and if you can't attend because they don't do it in time, explain why in your WS and also (if asked) at the hearing in 2025 and there will be no sanctions as long as your circumstances genuinely prevented you from taking a call.

fineclaret

LDast said:

Sigh! You have two options as far as I can see. First is to make yourself available in one way or another to receive the phone call from the mediator. That is up to you, whether you take a satellite phone with you or be in a location that has a mobile phone signal.

The second option you have is as pointed out by @KeithP. If you will not be available for the phone call due to your circumstances, then you can simply pay the alleged debt and be done with it.

There may be a third option but we are not aware that this has ever been tested. You could simply not take the call, for whatever reasons you choose and see if it is referred back to the judge and whether the court decide to sanction you for it. At trial, if it were ever to get that far, the judge may ask you to explain why you did not attend the mediation call and you can mitigate with what you have told us above.

It is not us having any attitude. You came here for advice and it was freely given. If you are not happy or don't agree with the advice, fair enough. Your choice. Getting stroppy with us because you don't like the options is not our problem. 

"Just pay up" is surprising advice, in view of the general tenor of this forum encouraging the fighting of these claims. I might as well test it in court as pre-emptively pay their inflated demands. I don't know what satellite phones cost, but I suspect it is considerably more than the debt. The mediation call takes about an hour; at roaming rates of 75p an hour (urgh! Per minute) for receiving international calls - even assuming I can get signal, and get up at 3am or whatever they decide - that would again be pretty costly, just to say "nothing doing". 

As it happens, the call is scheduled for a day I am still in the air, despite my blocking that day as unavailable on my N180. So, I cannot reasonably attend anyway. They won't reschedule except in 'exceptional circumstances' - bereavement or such. Whether they regard prebooked travel as exceptional or not, I don't know. Maybe they will join you in the collective shrug at my own intransigence: I brought it on myself for not making myself perpetually available to this process.

LDast

fineclaret said:
The mediation call takes about an hour; at roaming rates of 75p an hour for receiving international calls - even assuming I can get signal, and get up at 3am or whatever they decide - that would again be pretty costly, just to say "nothing doing". 

Where did you get that idea from? Your only requirement is to "attend" the call. You do not have to partake in any bartering. Simply tell the mediator that you are only prepared to offer £0 and it will be over in less than 5 minutes. You attended. Simples!

Coupon-mad

Yep.  The Template Defence thread 'first 12 steps' tells you to just pay lip service to the Mediation call for 5 minutes only.

KeithP

fineclaret said:
...at roaming rates of 75p an hour for receiving international calls...

At a little over one penny a minute... looks a reasonable rate to me.  

fineclaret

KeithP said:

fineclaret said:
...at roaming rates of 75p an hour for receiving international calls...

At a little over one penny a minute... looks a reasonable rate to me.  

D'oh! I meant per minute. 

fineclaret

LDast said:

fineclaret said:
The mediation call takes about an hour; at roaming rates of 75p an hour for receiving international calls - even assuming I can get signal, and get up at 3am or whatever they decide - that would again be pretty costly, just to say "nothing doing". 

Where did you get that idea from? Your only requirement is to "attend" the call. You do not have to partake in any bartering. Simply tell the mediator that you are only prepared to offer £0 and it will be over in less than 5 minutes. You attended. Simples!

Definitely not worth buying a satellite phone for, then! As it happens they rearranged, after I complained bitterly about ignoring my holiday dates. Just had it. Nice lady; the Claimant offered to waive the £70 add-on, so £135. I said no. The Claimant position is that, being a hospital car park (rather, it turns out, a car park near a hospital), everyone has a sob story, so they don't care. She did warn me that the Judge will only look at contract law and is likely to be disinterested in mitigation. She mentioned that they had asked her to direct my attention to a case settled last week, but that it is not in her remit to do so. So, back from NZ in March; we'll see then.

Coupon-mad

I'm worried they'll set a hearing date while you are away. I would email a reminder to the local court now.  Crystal clear.

fineclaret

Coupon-mad said:

I'm worried they'll set a hearing date while you are away. I would email a reminder to the local court now.  Crystal clear.

I did this, to no avail. They 'lost' my N180. Wife resent it. But they have decided to allocate a different court - the one that 'usually deals with your area', despite being further away, and not the one I asked for. They have arranged a preliminary hearing by phone on a date I am still in New Zealand at an unknown location somewhere in the mountains of South Island. Costs £££ to change it - more if the other party disagrees. Basically, everything on my N180 has been ignored. I can delegate my wife, though this is unfair on her, as it is my stubbornness that led us here.

(I am aware there are places in New Zealand with phone signal, to anticipate unhelpful responses).