Court date with Gladstone

Coupon-mad

So parking is only permitted in certain circumstances and there is no offer of parking (no contract) extended to other drivers. No consideration - no contract.

If this is your home, you have primacy of contract anyway and in a 'fort Knox' style gated car park there's no justification for a permit scheme which works to the detriment of residents & their visitors with a key fob/permission to enter.

But start with trying to get the claim struck out as per Chan and Akande (appeal cases are persuasive on the lower courts).

And then point out that the Claimant has not only breached Part 16 in the Particulars of Claim at the start of litigation (woefully inadequate specification of the allegation) but also breached the Hearing Order which specifically required a witness statement from 'the Claimant/the parties' not template legal argument 'churn' from their third party solicitor (who is not a party).

There is no witness statement from the Claimant so the one from the solicitor should be disallowed and the claim dismissed.

Car1980

not template legal argument 'churn' from their third party solicitor (who is not a party).

Handily demonstrated by the fact it's all dated October 2024.

Signage wise - the usual mass of monochrome visual noise. Clear signage is professionally designed. Unclear signage is knocked up in-house in Word.

Kessler

@Coupon-mad @Car1980

Thank you for the feedback! Attended court, and the judge immediately raised the lack of a proper witness, pointing out that the paralegal who submitted the witness statement had never even visited the site. I didn’t have to say a word—within five minutes, the claim was struck out, and I was awarded £50 for half a day's attendance and parking. It did cost me some earnings, but I’m just glad I didn’t have to pay the scammers—another one bites the dust!

Johnersh

Pleased about this.

The above is what should happen every time. The PPCs use the witness statement to advance legal argument and matters which are only known to them from what they read on their PC (ie not personal knowledge at all).

Car1980

Well done. Show us the Order when you receive it. Handy for any future Gladstone cases where they just use their template.

Coupon-mad

Kessler said:

@Coupon-mad @Car1980

Thank you for the feedback! Attended court, and the judge immediately raised the lack of a proper witness, pointing out that the paralegal who submitted the witness statement had never even visited the site.

I didn’t have to say a word—within five minutes, the claim was struck out, and I was awarded £50 for half a day's attendance and parking. It did cost me some earnings, but I’m just glad I didn’t have to pay the scammers—another one bites the dust!

Brilliant stuff! What a good judge but what a waste of court time. As you say:

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

Kessler

Here's the order from the judge. Many thanks once again!

Coupon-mad

Nice. Frame it!

Burnt_Roti116

congrats Kessler. Just a quick one, was your skeleton argument on page 1 essentially your crib sheet to be used in the hearing? I am at the hearing stage too, just want to make sure I'm going prepared.

Kessler

Coupon-mad said:

"...And then point out that the Claimant has not only breached Part 16 in the Particulars of Claim at the start of litigation (woefully inadequate specification of the allegation) but also breached the Hearing Order which specifically required a witness statement from 'the Claimant/the parties' not template legal argument 'churn' from their third party solicitor (who is not a party)."

@burnt_Roti116 Thank you! Yes, that's right. I also planned to raise the above point but the judge actually raised it himself before I could say anything. Good luck!