Emailed Angela Smith (Labour MP For Basildon & Thurrock)PPS (&nbsp, Prime Minister's Office (since 23 Jul 2007) (havent got a clue what her job involves in parliment)

OPPS sorry for the double post.

Emailed Angela Smith (Labour MP For Basildon & Thurrock)PPS ( ), Prime Minister's Office (since 23 Jul 2007) (havent

I am so happy to hear/read that loads of people around the country are still having their cases continued with, and no stays have been implemented. So can someone please tell me WHY THE HELL ARE SOUTHEND STAYING ALL BANK CHARGE CLAIMS????????

Maybe our judge needs to speak to other judges and take their lead/initiative, has anyone had their order through to say exactly why their claim has been stayed (was it because the defendant requested it or was it due to the judge’s own initiative)? If so, can you post up the reply so that when we all receive them, we can ask someone very clever, what is the best course of action to take, as it seems that we seem to have the only court that is staying all claims, and he is not judging each case on a case by case basis, which I thought they had been asked to do (as per the quote from the Royal Courts of Justice to Martin Lewis of MSE).

By staying all claims, isn’t that Bias? I thought the courts weren’t allowed to show any form of bias and had to be neutral or am I assuming wrong?

If it turns out that Southend are the only court/only one of a small handful of courts in the country staying all claims, maybe with advice from wise CAGers we can complain to the higher judge who looks after this area/write to the local/national paper complaining that we seem to have the only court (or are one of a handful of courts) that are staying all claims, thus penalising us, whilst other courts carrying on as business as usual.

have a look at this especially post 784.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/107861-courts-cant-suspend-all.html

It has a link where you can put your MP's name in and see if they are one of the Mp's that signed the Early day motion against bank charges (could be useful to put the part that Westy1 has put at the top of your letter when you send it to your mp), THE MORE PEOPLE THAT RIGHT TO THEIR MP'S THE MORE CHANCE WE HAVE OF SOMEONE TAKING NOTICE,

We need to do everything we can possibly think of to have the STAYS lifted on our claims, and continue with our fight on taking these robbing banks on. Good Luck everyone

totally agree.

It bugs me that a judge can decide this without even bothering to look at any information from anyone. (obviously fancies a couple of months of doing nothing). I hope that everyone attending Southend sends Judge Dudley a request to have the stay set aside, so that he is so snowed under with paperwork, he will wish he never made this decision.

Just checked my local MP didnt sign either of them. Shame.

this is the full wording on their website

What if I have already been made an offer?

We will stand by any offer to settle a complaint or court claim that we have already made to our customers. If you have received an offer to settle from us, we will be writing to you again shortly. Our letter will explain that customers have two months to decide whether to refuse our offer and wait for the decision in the test case. If you do choose to refuse an offer, your complaint or claim we will be held and recorded by us until there is a final decision in the "test case". We will then contact you again as soon as possible to finally resolve your complaint.

Personally, you could take this to mean that ONCE they send you the letter explaining what is happening re your case, THEN you have two months in which to decide and IF you reject their offer then they will put a note on your file.

Note to James33,

Only a suggestion but write to INGA quoting the above from Abbey's website and tell her that it says that ONCE they send you a letter regarding your claim you have two months to accept any offer they made you, IT DOESNT SAY ANYWHERE in the text that if you have rejected an offer PRIOR to them sending you this letter will they not Accept any offer made to you. This could potentially be a grey area, they should of worded their statement a lot better.

sent mine to Angela Smith yesterday

also had letter from Southend court to stay that all cases are being stayed pending the decision on the test case, and due to the vast amounts of claims at this court, official orders have been delayed in being sent out and will be with us all within the next couple of weeks.

This is SOOOOOO unfair, how can judge decide to put a blanket stay on all claims, it is sooooooo frustrating that even though the banks have abused the system and peed off judges, the judges are paying right into their hands.

I will be asking for the stay to be lifted, however, is the judge likely to do it, when it was his decision to put the stay there in the first place.

Rant over, going back outside to enjoy the british weather (only good thing at the moment that is british, coz the banks and judges certainly arent).

received a letter from Southend to say that all bank charges claims at southend are being held until the outcome of the test case.

Looks like quite a lot of us will be peeved over the next couple of weeks as I received this in the post this morning.......

Further to your email dated 30th July to the court, i can confirm that all small claims regarding bank charges within this court are being stayed pending the outcome of the proceedings currently under way in the High court.

I can confirm that due to the high volume of such claims within this court, there is a slight delay in the processing of the Orders staying the claims. However, the appropriate orders should be sent out within the next couple of weeks.

Sorry Guys bad News for all at southend court.

Received this this morning.......

Further to your email dated 30th July to the court, i can confirm that all small claims regarding bank charges within this court are being stayed pending the outcome of the proceedings currently under way in the High court.

I can confirm that due to the high volume of such claims within this court, there is a slight delay in the processing of the Orders staying the claims. However, the appropriate orders should be sent out within the next couple of weeks.

Sorry Guys bad News

Received this this morning....... (relates to Southend Court)

Further to your email dated 30th July to the court, i can confirm that all small claims regarding bank charges within this court are being stayed pending the outcome of the proceedings currently under way in the High court.

I can confirm that due to the high volume of such claims within this court, there is a slight delay in the processing of the Orders staying the claims. However, the appropriate orders should be sent out within the next couple of weeks.

Sorry Guys bad News

Received this this morning.......

Further to your email dated 30th July to the court, i can confirm that all small claims regarding bank charges within this court are being stayed pending the outcome of the proceedings currently under way in the High court.

I can confirm that due to the high volume of such claims within this court, there is a slight delay in the processing of the Orders staying the claims. However, the appropriate orders should be sent out within the next couple of weeks.

Sorry Guys bad News

Received this this morning.......

Further to your email dated 30th July to the court, i can confirm that all small claims regarding bank charges within this court are being stayed pending the outcome of the proceedings currently under way in the High court.

I can confirm that due to the high volume of such claims within this court, there is a slight delay in the processing of the Orders staying the claims. However, the appropriate orders should be sent out within the next couple of weeks.

I want to use the template that gary h has kindly created, asking for the stay on my claim to be lifted. (just waiting on the formal order to arrive from the court). However, I wanted to try and personalise it a little so that the judge wasnt reading the same thing over and over again.

I am thinking of putting this in (the highlighted section) and wanted someones opinion it if sounded okay/was the right thing to put/or better to leave it out.

Balance of Convenience

It is submitted that a stay may potentially mean greater difficulty for me yet insignificant for the Defendent (abbey national). In fact a stay is supportive of the banks litigation strategy which is to frustrate justice by repeatedly taking the claimant to the steps of the court only to then settle the claim which Abbey have done on many occasions. (I had personally written to Abbey national Plc on four occasions before I began court action to see if they were willing to enter into settlement negotiations, thus saving the extremely over stretched judical system from dealing with this claim and limiting further expense to all parties concerned. However, these requests were either ignored or a standard response sent.

I had also asked on 2 occasions for them to send me a full breakdown of the costs to which they had been put by as a result of my breaches to show that their penalties really do reflect their costs, which they refused to furnish me with. I therefore respectfully ask that i am able to continue with my claim as expeditiously as possible.

Cheers Kia,

It seems that since the OFT announcement this thread has gone quiet.

Uniboy i am the same as you, waiting on it go come through, I wasnt at the stage of having a court date, abbey had defended and was waiting for the AQ / next directions when the test case was announced

Just read something on moneysaving website

This Quote was dated 25th July 2007"

]Hi, I was at Southend County COurt this morning as one of the claimants and it transpires that Barclays are intending to defend the case, and as such the sitting judge fast tracked all the cases today and they will be heard collectively. This does mean that because the cases are being fast tracked and not being dealt with under the small claims process, then fees could be payable if the judgement is fund in favout of the defandant

According to the judge there are about 50 cases which are being bundled together, not just today claimants cases of which there were 6 claimants against Barclays

If you were one of the claimants today, or your case has been fast tracked and to be heard by Judge Dedman on 4th Decemeber at 10:30"

To which someone replied with

QUOTE

"This explains an earlier discussion it would seem that the banks are not getting there way with the Courts and what the District Judge this morning is allocate all today's matters to the Fast Track and listed them for hearing before the Circuit Judge (HHJ Dedman) on 4 December 2007. What is not clear because of what the court staff have told other posters on this thread is whether all the other bank ]charges cases which were not listed today at Southend have been stayed pending the 4 December hearing. Which would seem to be the implication of the reference to 50 cases. Or if they have been stayed pending the high court case" (END QUOTE)

Does anyone know anything more about this

has anyone had an official letter yet from Judge Dudley staying their claim? If no-one has, maybe just maybe he has changed his mind about staying the cases and will carry on. (Fingers crossed), as there does seem to be an awful lot of courts that are carrying on as if nothing has happened.

Has anyone rung the court to see what is happening?

All claims are not on hold, a lot the the DJ's are not staying the claims, many are carrying on as normal and are accessing them on a case by case basis. dont give up all is not lost.

sorry alex, must of forgot to add the last bit. I have edited it and put the correct link in.

When hubby rung Southend court monday, the clerk there said she couldnt access our file as it was currently being looked at but she said she remembers that it had been stayed. after hearing a lot of what people have said, i dont think we will listen to the clerk and if a court order hasnt come through the post by latter part of next week, will get hubby to ring again and find out what is happening, as Abbey put in their defence around 13th July.

How are you supposed to see if you have been charged or not?????? not everyone has access to telephone banking or in abbey's case, I have requested telephone banking to be sent thorugh 6 times in the last 6 months and have now given up asking.

Obviously they are hoping you rack up loads of charges between one statement to the next.

Good to see that people are actually reading them and are on our side, lets hope our local MP's feel the same way and want our votes.

just sent mine to local mp