 This strategy has worked well
Normal thing, had about £1,000 in charges levied against me from both Barclays and Barclaycard. Started writing to them in Sep, usualy fob off letters, was in the mood to take no crap so sued them.
Both put in a defence around xmas and two court dates set for the middle of March.
Don't know if I read of the following here (likely), on another message board or made it up myself (unlikely) but whatever the case I sent them this letter about 2 weeks before the trial -
Dear Sir or Madam (I actually sent this straight to the main guy at barclays, - Keith Jerimiah (check the spelling))
Over the last week I have been busy preparing my arguments alongside gathering facts for my court case against Barclays which will be held in XXXXX on the XXth XXXX 2007 at 11.30am.
However, when looking at your defence as stated on the allocation questionnaire that was submitted I note that it is word for word the same defence that virtually everyone who is suing Barclays for settlement of unlawful bank charges has received.
As I believe that Barclays has not successfully used this defence in an actual court hearing I would like to offer you the chance of settling out of court if only to save you time, and the Barclays legal budget money.
I look forward to your reply but if you do want to take the matter further then I very much look forward to seeing a Barclays representative in court at the beginning of next month.
Yours sincerly/faithfully
Like I said it worked both times and although I was 95% confident I wouldn't have to go to court I didn't want to spend a day preparing my case only for them to call me up the day before trial and say 'we'll settle'.
The letter therefore just tried to speed up the inevitable.
Hope this helps anyone that is nearing their court date and I would advise you sent it about 2 weeks before you're expected in court.
Good luck | 
