Civil National Business Centre Claim form help

emmy_lou_2

Another one bites the dust !!!!! Thank you all for your advice We would have never done it without your support !!
Just leaving court now so relieved !! 
Thank you 🙏 @Coupon-mad and to all that have posted with their experiences 

Coupon-mad

emmy_lou_2 said:

Another one bites the dust !!!!! Thank you all for your advice We would have never done it without your support !!
Just leaving court now so relieved !! 
Thank you 🙏 @Coupon-mad and to all that have posted with their experiences 

Ooh - well done you - tell us more! Which court & judge. What points won it?

Did they send anyone?

And what did you all say in the hearing?

Coupon-mad

Coupon-mad said:

A trial bundle is everything from the claim form through to your WS & exhibits and also theirs. A fully combined bundle.

They will probably supply it this week sometime (delayed by Xmas/New year holidays no doubt) but if not, your partner - the Defendant - could ring the court on Friday or Monday and ask if the hearing is going ahead.

If it is, your partner must attend early to get through security, take a loo break, read his WS and make sure he:

- asks the Judge at the start, to please strike out the claim per the two persuasive appeal authorities of Chan & Akande

- points out that the Claimant failed to file & serve a trial bundle, so as well as failing to plead their basis of claim properly (in breach of Part 16) they also ignored a Court order;

- this is 'wholly unreasonable conduct' in spades and that's before you even scratch the surface and note a course of conduct starting when they filed a claim for £0 last April then discontinued it, which was hard to understand what was going on yet also intimidating and a complete waste of the Defendant's time;

- then they filed a fresh claim in which the PCN was exaggerated by £10 (as their own signage evidence proves) AND they have added a further £70 which is false double recovery as it covers template letters already accounted for in the PCN itself (per ParkingEye v Beavis).

- on top of that, they've added pre-loaded interest. S69 of the County Courts Act 1984 grants courts a discretionary power to award simple interest but this POC assumes 8% interest (calculated on the whole enhanced quantum from an unspecified date) on the top line of the sum claimed;

- this serial exaggeration of the quantum unjustly enriches them or Gladstones on every undefended claim. This conduct is an abuse of the court process but the Claimant has not applied for relief from sanctions to amend the vague and yet exaggerated POC and has simply run with the same enhanced sums in their witness statement, which is signed by a person who has never been to the site, isn't a witness at all and has not attended this hearing. The Claimant's witness statement is no more than hearsay;

- and all that is before you even look at the lack of merit of this hopeless case where Horizon did not use POFA 2012 (paragraph 9) compliant wording on their NTK, so they cannot hold the Defendant liable as registered keeper. It was two days before Xmas 2023 when the store - a massive Tesco 'Extra' - offered specially extended early opening hours. The solicitor - who wasn't there and doesn't work for Horizon - has stated (with no evidence) that "the store opened at 6am" yet the Defendant is convinced that it opened at 5am as it was the 23rd December. He also has evidence on his banking app of around £90 spent there on groceries for Christmas. On the balance of probabilities, no shopper could possibly have done the Christmas grocery shop, gone through the till, returned to his vehicle, filled the boot, returned the trolley, and left the car park in 25 minutes flat! So the Claimant's witness is clearly wrong but cannot be cross-examined because the solicitor is not in attendance;

After saying all of the above, your partner must then confidently ask the Judge for his costs in full, taking with him some proof of time off work, (his daily or hourly paid rate) plus costs of childcare for the hearing time if applicable and/or his travel, and ask for several hours of work on the case - at £24 ph - which is the LIP rate applicable in cases where the threshold for 'wholly unreasonable conduct' was met.

(call the judge 'judge' by the way).

Did he (Defendant) have to plough through all of the above and did he remember to ask for his costs to be ordered paid by Gladstones / Horizon?

emmy_lou_2

Thank you 🙏 It was Merthyr Tydfil Combined Law Courts, Im ashamed to say I cant remember the Judge’s name, but I will post the details when they arrive.
They didn’t send anyone, not even a representative, but we still went ‘through the motions’
I wasn't allowed to speak only support my partner, so I just guided him through our notes.
The judge questioned him mainly on the signage and their position in the car park.
The only photograph the claimant had in their exhibits was a sign positioned too far away from the entrance of the car park, the Judge asked if my partner could identify the sign from the background in the photo, which he did, and then identified in a photo he had  taken recently where it was in the car park. 
The judge took his time to make a decision,sent us out of courtroom to wait then returned for the verdict. 
My partner struggles to speak publicly, but he was truthful and polite.
We should have asked for costs but like my partner told the Judge the relief that it was all over was enough.

Coupon-mad

Wonderful. Nicely handled, both of you.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

emmy_lou_2

Coupon-mad said:

Coupon-mad said:

A trial bundle is everything from the claim form through to your WS & exhibits and also theirs. A fully combined bundle.

They will probably supply it this week sometime (delayed by Xmas/New year holidays no doubt) but if not, your partner - the Defendant - could ring the court on Friday or Monday and ask if the hearing is going ahead.

If it is, your partner must attend early to get through security, take a loo break, read his WS and make sure he:

- asks the Judge at the start, to please strike out the claim per the two persuasive appeal authorities of Chan & Akande

- points out that the Claimant failed to file & serve a trial bundle, so as well as failing to plead their basis of claim properly (in breach of Part 16) they also ignored a Court order;

- this is 'wholly unreasonable conduct' in spades and that's before you even scratch the surface and note a course of conduct starting when they filed a claim for £0 last April then discontinued it, which was hard to understand what was going on yet also intimidating and a complete waste of the Defendant's time;

- then they filed a fresh claim in which the PCN was exaggerated by £10 (as their own signage evidence proves) AND they have added a further £70 which is false double recovery as it covers template letters already accounted for in the PCN itself (per ParkingEye v Beavis).

- on top of that, they've added pre-loaded interest. S69 of the County Courts Act 1984 grants courts a discretionary power to award simple interest but this POC assumes 8% interest (calculated on the whole enhanced quantum from an unspecified date) on the top line of the sum claimed;

- this serial exaggeration of the quantum unjustly enriches them or Gladstones on every undefended claim. This conduct is an abuse of the court process but the Claimant has not applied for relief from sanctions to amend the vague and yet exaggerated POC and has simply run with the same enhanced sums in their witness statement, which is signed by a person who has never been to the site, isn't a witness at all and has not attended this hearing. The Claimant's witness statement is no more than hearsay;

- and all that is before you even look at the lack of merit of this hopeless case where Horizon did not use POFA 2012 (paragraph 9) compliant wording on their NTK, so they cannot hold the Defendant liable as registered keeper. It was two days before Xmas 2023 when the store - a massive Tesco 'Extra' - offered specially extended early opening hours. The solicitor - who wasn't there and doesn't work for Horizon - has stated (with no evidence) that "the store opened at 6am" yet the Defendant is convinced that it opened at 5am as it was the 23rd December. He also has evidence on his banking app of around £90 spent there on groceries for Christmas. On the balance of probabilities, no shopper could possibly have done the Christmas grocery shop, gone through the till, returned to his vehicle, filled the boot, returned the trolley, and left the car park in 25 minutes flat! So the Claimant's witness is clearly wrong but cannot be cross-examined because the solicitor is not in attendance;

After saying all of the above, your partner must then confidently ask the Judge for his costs in full, taking with him some proof of time off work, (his daily or hourly paid rate) plus costs of childcare for the hearing time if applicable and/or his travel, and ask for several hours of work on the case - at £24 ph - which is the LIP rate applicable in cases where the threshold for 'wholly unreasonable conduct' was met.

(call the judge 'judge' by the way).

Did he (Defendant) have to plough through all of the above and did he remember to ask for his costs to be ordered paid by Gladstones / Horizon?

No, the Judge began by telling us that he has read our  witness support and exhibits and that my partner didn't have to repeat anything that was in the statement, only if he had any questions himself, and to answer the Judge when he wanted further clarification of the evidence,  mainly the signage.
My partner did add re the exaggerated £10 in the POC and the inconsistency of the PCN amounts in the claimants WS  ( with a little nudge from me ) 

Coupon-mad

Very good. Scam over!

LookAtTheBrightSide

emmy_lou_2 said:

Another one bites the dust !!!!! Thank you all for your advice We would have never done it without your support !!
Just leaving court now so relieved !! 
Thank you 🙏 @Coupon-mad and to all that have posted with their experiences 

So happy for you! Well done! Now can I adapt your WS to draft mine, @emmy_lou_2? 😉

emmy_lou_2

LookAtTheBrightSide said:

emmy_lou_2 said:

Another one bites the dust !!!!! Thank you all for your advice We would have never done it without your support !!
Just leaving court now so relieved !! 
Thank you 🙏 @Coupon-mad and to all that have posted with their experiences 

So happy for you! Well done! Now can I adapt your WS to draft mine, @emmy_lou_2? 😉

Of course you can ! Thats exactly what I’ve done with the numerous WS that Ive read on here ☺️
One thing I panicked over was that I emailed it in ‘Onedrive’ but the court couldn’t open it ! It has to be in PDF format 
Good Luck with your WS !  Ill be looking for your updates ☺️

LookAtTheBrightSide

emmy_lou_2 said:

LookAtTheBrightSide said:

emmy_lou_2 said:

Another one bites the dust !!!!! Thank you all for your advice We would have never done it without your support !!
Just leaving court now so relieved !! 
Thank you 🙏 @Coupon-mad and to all that have posted with their experiences 

So happy for you! Well done! Now can I adapt your WS to draft mine, @emmy_lou_2? 😉

Of course you can ! Thats exactly what I’ve done with the numerous WS that Ive read on here ☺️
One thing I panicked over was that I emailed it in ‘Onedrive’ but the court couldn’t open it ! It has to be in PDF format 
Good Luck with your WS !  Ill be looking for your updates ☺️

Thanks @emmy_lou! This might be a silly question but did you send the WS with all the transcripts and photos as exhibits in one email? Is there anything else that I need to send?