Yes, appreciate that there are ceilings etc. I'm not self employed but company owner. It's very easy to reach £1200 very quickly with hours put in and mileage, parking etc etc. Just seems unfair that someone can be dragged through the legal process, win the case and be out of pocket. Never mind, it's all done now so time to move on I guess. As for Jury service, one of my lads has just done it this month. Very interesting by all accounts although I would rather not get called up personally. Thanks for the replies all.

Took a lot of time to put together. No, never been on Jury duty thankfully!

Yes it was small claims court. £1200 in lost wages due to the hours spent writing my defence etc ( I work for myself and charge by the hour).

Just after a bit of advice. I have successfully defended a claim brought against me and at the end of the hearing I asked the Judge if I could submit financials for consideration. I was told I could claim £45 for a half day hearing attendance but no more. The case has actually cost me £1200 to defend (time off work, mileage, parking etc) which is of course a tad annoying. Seems unfair that I can be dragged through the civil legal system, win the case and be out of pocket. Is this normal?

Just looking at the particulars and the claimant is specifically trying to claim under SOGO1979. This is only applicable to purchases made before 01st October 2015. Seeing as this is well before this purchase is this a technicality that could be raised in order to try and have it all dismissed on grounds of technicality?

Thanks for the advice. Is the judge able to throw cases out or do they always go to a hearing?

Absolutely right, my bad (ill with the flu so not thinking clearly) he is claiming under SOGA1979. The first POC pays no reference to anything other than stating when he bought the van and the issues he has had and money he has spent. Then the Judge requested he submit a revised statement and that is when he mentioned specific parts of SOGA1979.

probably best not too as the particulars are so detailed it would be obvious to anyone involved should they view this thread. The POC was very limited - just a few words saying that he bought the vehicle, it broke down and he has spent several thousand and still not found the fault. I submitted a full and detailed defence at which point the court asked for a revised statement from the claimant. He submitted that (much more detailed) and the court have now asked me to submit a revised statement further to what the claimant wrote (I guess to give me a chance to respond in kind). I haven't submitted that yet.

Thanks for the detailed reply. It is a case of the claimant notifying me shortly after sale that he had experienced a problem with the vehicle but that the following day it was booked in for a service and the problem would be investigated at that point. I heard nothing for several months so assumed all was well until I received a demand for several thousands of pounds to be paid within 14 days. I refused and from there it has gone to the courts. He is claiming under the CRA1979 (as per his description). I'm not happy to post the full claim form details on here as it's a public forum and I wouldn't want to jeopardise my defence but happy to do so via pm.

The van was priced very competitively (I would go as far as to say perhaps a little on the cheap side) but it was important that we sold it quickly. At the point of sale there were no indications of anything wrong and a fresh mot had also been done and nothing was picked up then. As far as I was concerned it was fit for sale i'm just concerned with the consumer rights Act wording as the way I read it is that anyone selling anything in the course of their business is therefore classed as a 'trader'. am I right in thinking that although sold through the business, this must be classed as a private sale and therefore caveat emptor?

Thankyou DragonFly1967. What I can't seem to ascertain is if under the CRA2015 we could be classed as a 'trader'. We are simply a Florists that sold one of our vans to a private buyer. The buyer has issued a County court claim against the business and obviously I need to make sure that at any hearing I am able to rightly state that this can't apply to us.

Hi all, just interested to know what a 'trader' is classed as when selling a company vehicle. Does the term apply to any business - such as a Ltd Co Florist that decides to sell a company van? Sold our company van which broke down on the private buyer after a few days. Said they were going to take it in and get it looked at but heard nothing more until 5 months later they are trying to claim a few thousand pounds off us saying the fault hasn't been identified yet and they have spent a small fortune. Is this reasonable? They are now claiming I knew about the fault too and i wonder how the hell I can prove I didn't!