Notice of Proposed Allocation to the Small Claims Track

Coupon-mad

Fully expected. Everyone gets that letter and of course you'll have read the second page and know when your WS & evidence submission deadline now is.

casper82

damm it, I just "woke up".

In the hearing letter, on the second page there is a deadline of 4pm 13th March 2026 (to deliver all documents to the other party and to the court office)

By documents do they mean the Evidence and Witness Statement ? Or the defence I submitted earlier ? Does it have to be delivered to court in person or post or email ? Whats the difference between Evidence and Witness Statemen ?

I remember as per of this process I already submitted my defence to ClaimResponses.CNBC, which was a 6 pages long PDF with 33 paragraphs. Can the defence be used as Evidence or Witness Statement or ?

I did read through the "Post 2" in Newbie section, it does say "it is not OK to rely only on your defence only", but I am not quite sure what exactly to put together.

I received an email today from Gladstone, they attached me their witness statement. They also explain in the email that:

"The Claimant, without intending any discourtesy, hereby gives notice that it will not be attending the final hearing. The Claimant kindly requests its attendance be excused and that the claim be decided in its absence. The Claimant has filed and served documents pursuant to the Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track (Hearing) and the Court has been notified of the Claimant’s non-attendance and that the Court has been asked to deal with the Claim in the Claimant’s absence."  

What does that mean ??? If the hearing goes ahead, the other party won't attend the hearing ? So it would be just me and the judge ?

As you can see I went into a bit of a panic mode, and I'd really appreciate your help (which you already provided a lot)

Gr1pr

You are definitely panicking, chill out

Gladstones never attend a hearing, that is all that it means, that their company will not be there, nor will the claimant private parking company, ( Horizon. ) nothing else should be construed from their statement , it may be just you and the judge, or there may be an advocate as well ( that paragraph is a standard paragraph from Gladstones )

The newbies sticky thread in announcements, 2nd post details what you have got to do now ( you have had around 8 to 10 months to prepare it )

Your WITNESS STATEMENT plus Exhibits is due in 2 days, by email ( any Exhibits are your evidence )

Your Defence was submitted months ago, so the court and claimant already have copies, so you dont repeat it

Coupon-mad

But Gladstones always say that.

You'd do well to search & read some Gladstones cases from 2025 because you'll find loads of suitable WS to adapt.

By documents do they mean the Evidence and Witness Statement ? Or the defence I submitted earlier ? Does it have to be delivered to court in person or post or email ? Whats the difference between Evidence and Witness Statement ?

But the NEWBIES thread post 2 answers all this and of course it's not your defence. It's your WS and evidence bundle. This is a fully expected stage seen in all Gladstones threads and you must email your WS and exhibits to your local court & cc in Gladstones.

Who signed that WS by the way?

A solicitor? Or a legal employee of Gs?

Or an employee of the PPC?

Who?

Read some 2025 threads!

Even simpler: bung a sentence from Gladstones tired old template WS into the search bar instead of posting it here like it's new & different…

…you'll soon see!

And the results of that search will give you the basis for setting out a decent WS (only look at 2025 results, not older. Don't go down very old forum rabbitholes).

🙂

casper82

Hi folks, thx for your quick reply, the WS says that the person dealing with it is "Solicitor employed by Gladstones Solicitors", the email came from their email domain too but in the email, the person signed as "paralegal".

casper82

so the idea now for me it so find a suitable WS from previous posts and make it for my case. I am just looking at some, there is no way I would be able to write one from scratch, I have no clue what any of the paragraphs mean. But I will make a few adjustments to suit my case and post it here for you do do a quality check on it ? Would that be OK with you ?

Coupon-mad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81919155#Comment_81919155

Hmmm… interesting.

Are you sure they say at the start of the WS that they are a solicitor, or are they saying they are replying under supervision of a solicitor?

casper82

this is a copy paste from the WS:

INTRODUCTION

1. I am a Solicitor employed by Gladstones Solicitors Limited, who act for the Claimant. I have
   conduct of this matter. The matters to which I refer are within my own knowledge or based on
   information provided to me by my client within the course of my instruction, save where
   expressly stated to the contrary, and are true to the best of my knowledge, information and belief.
   I am duly authorised by the Claimant to make this statement on its behalf.

casper82

btw, it's the very same person that signed the WS as in: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6494901/pcn-from-pcm/p5

Coupon-mad

Elise Davies is an SRA-regulated solicitor. So no point to be made there.

"I will make a few adjustments to suit my case and post it here for you do do a quality check on it ? Would that be OK with you?"

Yes we want to help.