Gladstones Late in Following Court Order - Advice

Kay117

Hi There,

I have been helping my stepdad in a case between him and Gladstones at the infamous Hayes & Harlington Station which we have disputed.

I followed the advice given on the forum and we went to Uxbridge County Court. As expected they (Gladstones) asked to be excused from attending.

When we went to court - the district judge had no record of them providing an evidence pack but they did send to me and I did bring it with me. The district judge (who wasn't the most lenient) asked to have a look at the pack but acknowledged that she couldn't use this as it wasn't sent to the court.

She tried contacting Gladstones on the phone and they did not answer so she adjourned the case and gave a court order.

IT IS ORDERED THAT:

1. Hearing adjourned to first available date after 21 days with a time estimate of 1 hour
2. Claimant to file with the court AND SEND TO THE DEFENDANT evidence that the documents were filed with the court on or before the 10th June 2024 in compliance with the court order dated 11th May 2024 within 14 days of the date of this order by 10th February 2025
3. Claimant to file with the court a copy of its documents within 14 days of the date of this order by 10th February.
4. Costs in the Case.

I emailed the court last week to chase for an update as having checked my emails and post I recieved nothing from Gladstones.

On Friday Morning (the 28th) I receive a letter from Gladstones stating the following:

"Upon receipt of the court order dates 27th January 2025, please see attached the Claimant's Witness Statement and the letter filing the witness statement with the court (this is dated the 16th May"

They were a full 18 days late in sending this across and have thus breached the court order as explicitly stated above.

I am hoping for some advice on how to proceed and how best to reach out to the court.

Apologies for the lengthy note but I wanted to give as much context as possible.

Gr1pr

I would have thought that you raise these issues as a preliminary matter with the judge at the start of the next hearing,  asking for the claim to be struck out 

Coupon-mad

Or email the court a Supplementary WS which you must also cc to Gladstones:

Point out that there's no evidence that the purported letter 'dated' 16th May 2024 was ever sent, AND they didn't bother to attend the last hearing AND they have breached the latest Order too because the Defendant only received a response on 28th February.

Given that this Claimant also breached Part 16 with woeful Particulars of Claim that fall foul of both appeal case decisions in CEL v Chan and CPMS v Akande (link to judgments) it is difficult to see a case for the court allowing this Claimant any more relief from sanctions, which their tardy representatives have not even asked for.

The Denton principles apply.

The authority of Dammerman v Lanyon Bowdler also applies re this series of wholly unreasonable conduct. The Defendant sees no reasonable explanation for this repeated conduct and invites the court to strike out the Claim and grant the Defendant's costs. See attached costs assessment.

Statement of truth

etc

Kay117

Thanks both for your response.

I’ll prepare a Supplementary Witness Statement to be sent tomorrow

Kay117

Hi Both (and anyone reading this)

Went back to Uxbridge County Court and the case was struck out due to the claimant not attending with costs of £90 awarded to the defendant for loss of earnings!

Thanks for the forum for all your help and for anyone reading this who's been stung by the Hayes & Harlington station "scam" - fight for your rights against these PCN companies!

Car1980

Well done!

The district judge (who wasn't the most lenient) asked to have a look at the pack but acknowledged that she couldn't use this as it wasn't sent to the court.

She tried contacting Gladstones on the phone and they did not answer so she adjourned the case and gave a court order.

Seems extremely lenient to me! Adjourning the case instead of striking it out and a supposed firm of solicitors not even answering the phone?!

Coupon-mad

Kay117 said:

Hi Both (and anyone reading this)

Went back to Uxbridge County Court and the case was struck out due to the claimant not attending with costs of £90 awarded to the defendant for loss of earnings!

Thanks for the forum for all your help and for anyone reading this who's been stung by the Hayes & Harlington station "scam" - fight for your rights against these PCN companies!

Yay!

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

But what a complete waste of your time and court resources too. I wonder if @Kaizen2024 (self-confessed parking industry poster here) is proud of what PCM and Gladstones do to good people and how they and their ilk are overburdening the court service?