Defence and WS in shight of court day after UK PPO ticket

Redkite22

This is the last page of  the claimant WS

Gr1pr

A typical loss in court for a single £100 is around £212

But as you won't be there to object to the added £70 then it's possible that the figure on the claim form would be awarded,  or a figure somewhere between the two. 

Additionally,  if the claimant sends an advocate they may or will ask for their own fee, perhaps up to a couple of hundred pounds,  plus they may ask for compensation for unreasonable behaviour,  it's all down to who says what on the day,  plus how clued up the judge is,  or not  (  Judge Bingo   )

Our advice is,  always turn up  !  ( it never changes   )

ParkingMad

Redkite22 said:

How much could i be ask to pay in total? The claimant is asking £100 for the ticket +  £70 for legal costs. How much is usually court fees?

Your claim form has a total of £255, but their offer to settle has a balance of £282, which probably includes the hearing fee of £27.

Redkite22

They are offer £185 by the 1st October, due to be unable to attend I suspect at this point is wise to pay. Will this strike the court hearing and stops any further requests from the Claimant and the court?
If  I do pay, what should I ask them to provide as a proof of payment and what should I do next.

Car1980

Don't just pay the £185. They're offering that from a position of weakness, otherwise they'd happily go to court without making any offers.

Counter-offer £100.

If they refuse, try £60 original discounted rate + £35 court fee + £27 hearing fee = £122.

Make sure to head the email Without Prejudice.

Once you have reached an agreement they should draw up a consent order for you to sign.

Coupon-mad

Alternatively, offer nothing and instead go on the attack, backed by new case law:

Has a paralegal signed the WS, relying at the start, on this?

"BW Legal Services Limited are the Solicitors for the Claimant. I have conduct of this action subject to the supervision of my principal."

BW Legal witness statements generally come from paralegals and contain language which relies on 'supervision by a solicitor' (which we now know doesn’t help them due to the Mazur judgment):

If you want to try this new and exciting alternative attack to strike out their WS, you could let the hearing continue but send a skeleton argument a week before, attaching the landmark Mazur judgment (where the SRA and Law Society both intervened) and state as a matter of law that the Claimant's solicitors (and the personal individual claiming to "have conduct of this matter") are both in breach of the LSA 2007.

Cite and append the actual transcript below from Mazur as authority, and state in the Skelton Argument that, under the doctrine of ex turpi causa, the Claimant should not be permitted to benefit from the illegal actions, and consequently the entire WS should be excluded from the case. Also, if a legal rep has attended, their rights of audience and authority to conduct litigation are also respectfully requested to be examined by the judge in the light of the authority in Mazur.

In this landmark new case, the SRA and Law Society both intervened so this is a real shake-up for bulk litigation and even legal reps that the Judge knows and has heard in court many times before, are not allowed to conduct litigation if they are unauthorised, per Mazur, backed by the SRA and the Law Society:

https://costsbarrister.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Mazur-and-another-v-Charles-Russell-Speechlys-LLP-2025-EWHC-2341-KB.pdf

https://costsbarrister.co.uk/access-to-justice/the-end-of-grade-d/

Make sure you have clearly excused yourself from attending in a timely email first. In saying that, I am assuming you have no choice but to not attend because we would ALWAYS advise you bend over backwards to be there.

Redkite22

I don't know if I have time left to counter attack at this point, Hearing is the 3rd October and is less than a week now. I Can maybe try to call them on Monday and try the counter offer as car1980 suggeste, by mail it will take too long and 1st October is deadline. Any other advise about how to conduct the counter offer?

Coupon-mad

Redkite22 said:

I don't know if I have time left to counter attack at this point, Hearing is the 3rd October and is less than a week now. I Can maybe try to call them on Monday and try the counter offer as car1980 suggeste, by mail it will take too long and 1st October is deadline. Any other advise about how to conduct the counter offer?

I wouldn't. I'd be much braver. But it's up to you.

I would 100% attack with the Mazurs judgment. You can file and serve a Skeleton Argument on Monday morning. A few days before a hearing is fine (there is no deadline for a skelly. I said 'a week before' only as a guide but 4 or 5 days before a hearing is absolutely OK).

BW Legal's so-called witness has (presumably?) admitted in that first paragraph to conducting litigation. That isn't allowed. Sections 14 to 16 of the Legal Services Act 2007 impose strict liability. Carrying on a reserved activity without entitlement is an offence. Both the individual and their employer may be liable, and unauthorised conduct may also amount to contempt of court if it misleads a judge.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81663895/#Comment_81663895

This is bombshell case law. Why not deploy it like a grenade?

BW might even discontinue because they will have been caught unawares by this judgment this month and their witness' choice of words in the WS, assuming they say they are only a paralegal and if they start by saying: 

"BW Legal Services Limited are the Solicitors for the Claimant. I have conduct of this action subject to the supervision of my principal"

... indisputably admits a breach of the Legal Services Act 2007. Mazur makes clear that this model risks criminal liability, regulatory sanction, and cost recoverability challenges.

Ouch!

There's no other way to view it. You just need your judge to know. I've sat before judges before and from cases I've seen and spoken in, their eyes light up and they love getting their teeth into new case law!

Light the blue touch-paper and stand back, is what I'd do.

Le_Kirk

Again, much as I hate popcorn, I've ordered some!

Redkite22

Just to give you an update, I've been caught in a funny situation.

I've sent Without Prejudice email to BW Legal  offering £100 pound for which a didn't receive email back other proof of delivery.

Yesterday at 4pm was deadline to accept their last offer so I call them and speaking with an agent they stated that their server are down at the moment and couldn't process anything and to try again today.

Same as yesterday, the server are down and couldn't resolve the matter. I explained that hearing is tomorrow and the agent said that due to having server down tomorrow they probably won't be able to process their documents and this won't penalize us but them.
Unfortunately I don't have any proof because this conversation happened by phone (registered call by them) and they can't email as server are down.

Don't really know what to do at this point. I hope BW Legal won't show up as probably they didn't even had the time to communicate this.