 Handy hints for filling in Form 1b
This is a long post but I think you may find it helpful if you're living in Scotland but claiming from an account that was held in England.
Yesterday I went to Edinburgh Sheriff court to hand in my Form 1b (small claims summons) which I had filled in according to a scanned copy of the form found elsewhere on this site. However, the Sheriff Clerk was unhappy about the wording and sent me home to re-word it as per his instructions. The guy was really helpful so I followed his advice and thought I would post the wording of the form here.
The two main problems he spotted were with the dates and the subject of jurisdiction. Although I live in Edinburgh, I used Lloyd TSB London head office address and then stated Edinburgh Sheriff Court had jurisdiction on the basis that Lloyds TSB have a branch in Edinburgh. The Sheriff Clerk said it's better to say that because the money has to be paid to me in Edinburgh, the court has jurisdiction. Otherwise I would have to use the address of a Lloyds TSB branch in Edinburgh, even though my account was not held there.
As for the dates, rather than just using the whole six year period, he said it was best to take the period in question as being from the date of the first charge till the date of the last charge claimed. What I'm going to do now is to paste here the wording I used, preceeded by the relevant section number from the form, rather than scanning my form. That way you can copy and paste if you like into your own forms. Best to copy the whole lot and save it in a Word or notepad file anyway, as you can't save the completed form that you downloaded unless you have the full 'writer' version of Adobe Acrobat.
Another point worth mentioning is that if you're paying the £39.00 fee in cash, they don't give change so make sure you have the exact amount.
OK, here goes - the bits in red are where you should insert your own details.
Part 4 - Claim (form of decree or other order sought):
The Pursuer claims from the Defendant the sum of TOTAL OF ALL CHARGES with interest on that sum of TOTAL INTEREST FROM YOUR SPREADSHEET from DATE OF FIRST CHARGE to DATE YOU HAND IN THE FORM TO THE COURT at 8% annually (together with the expenses of bringing the action).
Part 7 - Details of claim:
The Claimant,YOUR NAME HERE, has held a bank account with the Defender since on or before DATE YOUR ACCOUNT WAS OPENED, the account number being XXXXXXXX. The Defendant deducted from the account various sums of money in penalty charges during the period DATE OF 1st CHARGE to DATE OF LAST CHARGE. These were in respect of ‘Charges as notified’ (levied if a cheque or direct debit payment was returned unpaid because the specific overdraft limit had been exceeded).The Claimant contends that these charges were legally unenforceable and the Claimant is demanding the repayment of the money. The Defender has refused full payment of these monies due. (Copies of correspondence can be provided).
No admissions are made by the Claimant as to the incorporation of any term into the contract between the Claimant and the Defendant purporting to entitle the Defendant to levy these charges. If the Defendant is able to establish that the contract did contain such terms, the Claimant will contend that these charges are unenforceable at law, being penalty charges designed to penalise the Claimant for a breach of contract and generate profit for the Defendant, rather than liquidated damages designed to compensate the Defendant for the actual loss occurring to the Defendant as a result of the breach.
The Claimant claims from the Defendant a sum equivalent to the amount unlawfully debited to the Claimant’s account in the period from DATE OF 1st CHARGE to DATE OF LAST CHARGE. The sums are detailed in the attached schedule.
The contractual provision that permits the Defendant to levy such charges is unenforceable by virtue of the Unfair Contract Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999), the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the common law.
The total amount of the claim is TOTAL CHARGES + TOTAL INTEREST plus the expenses of bringing the action. The monies ought to be paid to the Pursuer in YOUR TOWN, therefore this court has jurisdiction.
The other parts of the form are just names, addresses and telephone numbers etc. so this is the 'meat' (or 'Quorn' if you're vegetarian) of the claim form. Another thing to watch out for in the downloaded form is the drop-down menu at the top of the page headed 'Action for / of' - make sure you select 'payment' in both places where this drop-down menu appears on the form.
I hope this is of some use to anyone else claiming from Scotland against a bank in England. I'll be more than happy to answer any questions anyone might have.
Shed Man out.
Ô¿Ô
| 
