I am claiming Bank charges from RBS (£2,100) - they entered a defence on the 27th day with MCOL. The same day their solicitors, Cobbetts, sent me a letter and a lot of legal jargon, requesting further information and clarification.

They say

'You are asked to provide a response to this request in accordance with CPR Part 18 by 17th May 2007' it goes on 'in the event that you do not provide an adequate response to this request by this date then the Defendant can apply to the court for an order you to provide the information requested or an order striking out your claim.

They ask for the following information:

in relation to each charge identify a the date when the charge was charged b the amount of the same and c the reason given for the charging of the same.

There is also lots of other legal questions, which I do not understand ie

'specify the clause pursuant to which the charges where applied'

I received advice on the above and sent the following letter :

Dear Sir or Madam:

Claim No:

I Acknowledge the receipt of the defence posted on behalf of rbs.

I am not prepared at this stage to answer the CPR Part 18 Request. I anticipate that the claim will be allocated to the small claims track and would not then expect to have to deal with a Part 18 request since these are specifically excluded under Part 27 unless the court specifically orders me to do so of its own initiative

Furthermore I consider that the CPR part 18 request is intimidatory and I intend to bring the intimidation to the notice of the court. However, for clarity, I confirm the charges I am claiming were applied to the following account:

Account Name:

Account number:

Sort Code:

Please also find enclosed a breakdown of all charges I am claiming.

I also asked them to explain

'specify the clause pursuant to which the charges where applied' because This is a highly ambiguous statement meaning that it is open to or having several possible meanings or interpretations. And asked them for a full explanation stating that the paragraph was ambiguous.

Yours Faithfully"

I included a breakdown of charges with the letter and I did send it recorded delivery (have got the slip to prove it) in good time.

I have now received a copy of the solicitors Allocation questionnaire and in the section for other information they have stated:

Case management directions cannot be proposed until the Claimant serves a Reply to the Request for Further Information which was due on 17th May 2007. In light of this, the Defendant may amend its defence or apply to strike out.

I telephoned the Court this morning and they said I cannot do anything about it now because it has been referred to the Judge and we will hear something shortly.

Should I write to the court with a copy of the letter I sent to Cobbets along with a copy of the recorded delivery slip.

I am very worried now that I may not even get to court with then asking for it to be struck out.

It may not help for the last letter, but you may be best sending a copy of any letters you send to Cobbetts to the court as well (obviously not any "without prejudice" letters).

Although it's slightly late, I'd recommend you forward a copy of that last letter to the court also. You don't need to supply a covering letter as the court clerks will just add the latter to your case file (make sure the claim number is clearly visible).