Court Claim Form received - BW legal; help with defence appreciated

OKjim

Lost. So mad right now. Judge didn’t seem to consider any evidence beyond me saying I tried to pay by app.

I felt ambushed by the judgment, I thought he was just asking for an outline of my reasons but I guess as soon as he asked I had to start referring to evidence. I was expecting there to be a cross examination but there was none

suddenly he was reading the judgment, hadn’t looked at a single exhibit or anything

Guess I played myself

The £60 uplift was completely illegible on their evidence, he still let it through.

it was circuit judge who seemed totally not interested in hearing the details of the case.

OKjim

Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but this is my advice based on what happened to me as a beginner in court who has now wasted a ton of time on this case only to have it not really heard!

Moral of the story is, beginner 101 should be IMO: make damn sure the judge doesn't ambush you with a judgment before you have stated your case. 

As soon as he lets you speak, you have to put every bit of argument you have right then and there. 

Of course do an introduction/outline of your case, but don't stop until either you are told to or you have touched on every point of law you have prepared and every criticism of the claimant's evidence/exhibits in particular. You never know when you will not get another chance to speak as you are not allowed to interrupt the judge, and the judge will not give any warning as to when it is your last chance to speak before judgment.

I gave just an outline of my case, touched briefly on the points of law I wanted to, but I had not yet applied the points strongly to the facts of the case using the exhibits of each party - I assumed wrongly that would come later. Then the claimant spoke very briefly saying only a sentence or two, the judge asked if I had any response to what they had said, then boom he's giving judgment!

He seemed to just want to get it over quick. He said at the start these small claims track hearings are generally short and he didn't want it to turn into "a trial" which I think made him make a quick judgment mostly on what he already knew before coming in the room and trying his best to dismiss, negate and not dig into any arguments he heard within the room.

Coupon-mad

Wow that was bad luck - a Circuit Judge you say?  They are notoriously very out of touch with parking law and don't see cases every week like District Judges do. Many Circuit Judges seem to start with the mindset that the parking firm is some sort of 'enforcement authority' and that the consumer is some oik who parked badly.

This is why we call it 'judge bingo'.

Normally, you get a District judge who knows about parking cases and spots the issued at forty paces by reading the WS and evidence properly. Bad luck! This WAS NOT down to anything you did wrong.

Get your own back if you can fit it in before Friday, by doing the Public Consultation if you haven't yet:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-remember-remember-the-5-september-it-closes-next-week/p1