Many thanks Ganymede. I only ask as this whole process has been mentally and physically exhausting and I don't want to waste more energy if it will be fruitless.

Thank you Ganymede. It is likely that they will just apologise or do you think they will award compensation?

Thank you steampowered. I worked out the figures and I am sadly £2,500 out of pocket. The judge only awarded 30% of my claim. So, I am not in the same position I would have been had I not entered into the contract and Mr. X still got to keep some of the money. I now have to wait 14 days for the payment. I have a feeling Mr. X is not going to pay... so I may have to enforce the judgement further. Fingers crossed...... I found it a bit strange in court because the judge said Mr. X was only a managing agent, so dismissed all the costs for the damage and losses completely. The judge accepted Mr X's verbal statement that I paid funds into his account and cash and that Mr. X took the money out of his bank account and gave over £4,000 cash to the builders. However, Mr. X did not submit the bank statements to the court at all for these transactions to support this. He told the judge "I forgot" and the judge accepted it. Also, when we came back into the court room for the verdict Mr X and the judge were laughing and joking which I found a bit unnerving. I still have a few questions I am hoping you can help with as I am having sleepless nights.... Is it better that the judge completely dismissed the contract with Black Velvet Ltd and didn't find him guilty of fraud? Do I let Companies House close them down now? Would they still be interested as he used the company and I made payment for the invoice to Mr X's personal account and they judge said he was personally responsible? The judge said he didn't need to pierce the corporate veil as he did not see any paperwork with their name on (he dismissed the Company X invoice I presented completely). Is there anything I can do about the judgement amount? Is it worthwhile to make a complaint about the court losing the paperwork and the judge dismissing that the majority of the building work was not finished and the fact that the award puts me in a negative financial position? I was reading up and found this article... I am unsure if it would help be recover more of the money to finish my house. " Making a Complaint About the Small Claims Court By: Lorna Elliott LLB (hons), Barrister (6 Mar 16) Complaint Small Claim Court Ombudsman If you are unhappy about the way in which your case has been handled, you can complain to the court that has had conduct of your case. Remember that this is not an ‘appeal’ against a decision made by a judge but rather a means of complaining when you are unhappy with the way staff at the small claims court have dealt with your case. If you have lost money as a result of the way your case has been handled, you can also claim for compensation - although whether this is accepted and paid is another matter. How to Complain You can complain in person, at the court, by telephoning the court, or in writing, by email, by writing a letter or by filling out form EX343A. Once your claim has been received it will be evaluated and a report will be filed. If your complaint is considered to be valid, you will receive an apology and compensation (if you have requested it and it is considered appropriate in the circumstances. " Link to article: http://www.aboutsmallclaims.co.uk/making-complaint-about-small-claims-court.html

Hi ericsbrother, Thank you for your reply. They are adamant that I signed the contract and it's correct. Shall I go to my local Law Centre and see if they can help me draft a letter as I am unsure what to write? I accrued 20 days holidays and they didn't want me to take any during my notice period.

Hi becky2585, Thank you for your reply. They are adamant I signed the contract so tough

Dear All, The court case has now taken place. The bad news is the court lost ALL of my exhibit bundle and particulars of claim. The way I found out when we went in, the judge began to speak quite aggressively and rudely to me at the beginning of the case by saying "what's this all about?" Well? I was completely thrown. When I mentioned the Particulars and the Exhibit Bundle, he told me had had none of it!! Good news, I gave the judge my copy I had brought with me. He then apologised and I did my best to re-focus. The judge looked at my case against Mr X's company and Mr. X and because I was thrown by the beginning of the proceedings, I was slower in going through the evidence and ran out of time which meant I was not able to show him evidence to convince him of the fraud by Mr. X using his company and the contract with Company X Ltd. Mr. X kept saying I went up to him and all the staff at work asking if they knew a builder and that he was innocent and just found a building firm (his builders) for me. Mr. X back tracked on all the bank payments and said he forgot to submit his bank statements to the court prove he paid the builders my money. The judge accepted this! Mr. X also said he paid all the money in cash to the builders not bank transfers as in his statement and the judge accepted it. I showed the judge the invoice from Mr. X's Company for the work which he paid into his personal account and did not pass onto anyone. The judge accepted Mr. X's defence that he passed money on in cash and used his company invoice in error and that he was only passing money to the builders and damp course co, again saying all cash now not bank transfers. However, as I had so much evidence from the Damp Course company confirming that they dealt with Mr. X and emails and text messages with Mr. X, the judge said there was obviously a contract with someone and it was him personally and that he acted as a Managing Agent to the builders (his builders which I continued to deny). The judge stopped the case because he wanted to go to lunch and then we had to wait while the judge went to lunch and he gave the verdict when he came back. Ultimately the judge found him personally responsible, reimbursed my court fees and reduced my claim to a fraction of what I asked. However, the judge believed Mr. X that he just found these builders for him and they were not his and disagreed with my claim for the theft and damage at my property and said as they were not Mr. X's builders so he was not responsible for their actions and dismissed my costs. The judge also refused to pay for my witness who did attend. The judge said he rang a builder during lunch and came up with his own figures. He then made jokes referencing to details of the case about how Mr. X would repay me. He also when into detail with Mr. X about options available to him if he could not afford to pay and Mr. X stayed in the court after I left speaking to the judge. It did seem apparent tat the judge favoured Mr. X but I still won the case and it will be less difficult at work. I would like to express my huge thanks to steampowered, BazzaS, Ganymede, SabreSheep and anyone who I have forgotten to mention who contributed. Fingers crossed Mr. X pays, I will update you what happens next.........

I agree and came to the same calculation as you did. However, they are using the terms in the contract to pay me 1/365th. So, twenty days holiday was paid as follows: (£25,000.00/365= £68.49 x 20) = £1,369.86. They say it was in the contract and I signed it so tough.

Hi , thank you for your reply. I agree, my contracted days are only Monday to Friday, therefore, I could only be taking any holiday Monday to Friday, i.e. only within 260 days for the year. However, in my contract it says that they calculate any outstanding holiday entitlement at 1/365th of Full Time Equivalent salary for each day's pay up to a maximum of 20 days. Therefore, they are including weekends?

Hi, Thank you for your reply. I have checked and the 20 days are part of my 22 days per annum entitlement. The 20 days consist of carried forward balance and this years accrued days. Public holidays are treated separately as an additional entitlement of 10.5 days under their contract called public and priveledge days. I also had a thought...my holiday days are can only be taken within my contractual days - i.e. Monday to Friday of any year so, over a year, I only have 261 days (365 days excluding weekends of 104 days) in which to take my holiday days. Therefore, how can they then include all days of the year in the salary and holiday pay calculations? In effective it would seem that I am financially at a loss as I left with accrued holiday. Also, it would imply that if I had finished on a Monday rather than a Friday, they pay you an additional two days (Saturday and Sunday) ?

Hi there, I have recently left my previous full time job and got my final pay slip. I was employed full time since November 2014. My contract states that my "core hours of work are 41 hours a week, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm." However, one term which I failed to read properly states: "Where you have taken more or less than your accrued holiday entitlement in the final year of your employment, a proportionate adjustment will be made by way of additional or reduction from (as appropriate) your final gross pay calculated at 1/365th of Full Time Equivalent salary for each day's pay up to a maximum of 20 days. I have already contacted them to dispute this and ACAS. ACAS said they could not help and told me to go to a solicitor. I realise that I have signed the contract and thereby agree to the terms but wondered if there was anything I could do? I am not contractually bound to work weekends and never have. Can they do this? I have never worked anywhere where they have done this. I have received the following email from my previous employer's payroll department: "I refer to our telephone conversation of this morning regarding the calculation of your July salary. To confirm your salary was calculated as follows :- Annual Salary £25,000.00/12 = £2,083.33 as was normally paid each month. As your last day was 1 July 2016 you were entitled to one day’s pay (£2083.33/31)=£67.20. To confirm your annual leave was calculated as follows:- Your annual leave entitlement for the period 1 February 2016 to 31 January 2017 was 27.5 days. You carried forward 10 days leave less any holiday taken. The maximum annual leave payable on leaving is twenty days . The calculation was 5/12x27.5=11.50days Plus 10 days carried forward = 21.50days less any leave taken. Twenty days were therefore paid.(£25,000.00/365= £68.49x20)=£1,369.86. Please find attachments for terms & conditions (see highlighted paragraph) and your original contract." I have attached a copy of my employment contract with relevant sections blanked out and the terms my employer has referred to with this post. I would really appreciate any advice on this matter. Calculation of Salary.pdf Copy of Employment Contract.pdf

Hi BazzaS, Thank you, So just to check I will ask both people to submit a copy of their payslip to me and I pay them pro-rata 3 hours only or the whole day? Hope this doesn't sound silly but do I pay them the gross salary or work out the net amount? I have no idea and don't want to offend them I assume I bring this to the court as well a copy of my payslip to calculate expenses for the 3 hours too? I assume mine is net pay reimbursement?

Hi, I need some help with this delicate matter concerning payment to witnesses for my court appearance. One is my neighbour and the other, a work colleague who are appearing as witnesses in my case. I am reimbursing them both out of my own pocket. If the judge finds in my favour, do I then request reimbursement of these expenses? I have read the following : http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part27#27.14 I understand it is Costs on the small claims track - 27.14: "e) a sum not exceeding the amount specified in Practice Direction 27 for any loss of earnings or loss of leave by a party or witness due to attending a hearing or to staying away from home for the purposes of attending a hearing;" I also have looked up the following about the costs: http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part27/pd_part27 I understand it says under: Costs Section 7.3 The amounts which a party may be ordered to pay under rule 27.14(3)© (loss of earnings) and (d) (experts’ fees) are: (1) for the loss of earnings or loss of leave of each party or witness due to attending a hearing or staying away from home for the purpose of attending a hearing, a sum not exceeding £95 per day for each person, " The court hearing is booked for 3 hours. I am unsure how and when to submit a claim for reimbursement. Do I need both people to submit a copy of their payslip and we pro-rata 3 hours and travel expenses and I then do a bank transfer to them for the amounts, so I have a record for the court. Is this correct? Also, can I claim for my previous court hearing in March when Mr. X requested to set the judgement aside and the court case as well? Thanks in advance

I know it's disgusting. The company we work for is a facilities management company who have a contract for all the staff supplied with the client we all work for. All of the management team are employed and contracted with the facilities management company and their HR dept are the ones who have instructed the mediator to do this. After the mediation meeting, I know that Mr. X spoke went straight to HR and the management team and whatever he said, they are all supporting him. The management team are on his side and keen to 'cover it up' as the consultancy firm want to keep their contract with the client. I have an email in my exhibit bundle from the mediator to me after the meeting took place stating "I have now also been told that I should take a step back from this. My advice to you would be to go down the legal route asap. I am confident that with the information you already have (letters/emails/documentation) that your voice will be heard in the correct channel." I have been asking the mediator repeatedly for months about the case, the importance of his appearance and statement and he kept delaying responding and eventually then said he couldn't. He said he got in trouble for doing the mediation meeting too. I also have text messages on my phone which I can show the judge if required confirming he has been told a conflict of interest. He seems very reluctant and I understand concerned about keeping his job. He won't do it sadly. My position has not been threatened working there are I am only on a zero hours contract, but I was called to a meeting with Mr. X and told to 'behave myself and be nice to him at work.' HR were not present at the meeting and no minutes were taken. It's all very underhanded. My hope is that if the case is successful, I will share the outcome with the client and if Mr. X is found guilty of the criminal offence too, he would not be allowed to continue working there.

Apologies... I forgot to add the details of my neighbour's witness statement as I want to know whether This will really help my case.... My neighbour's witness statement main content states that Mr. X represented himself as Director of Company X and gave my neighbour a quote from Company X which he did not go ahead with. I assume that this will help my case a it is another person who can confirm that Mr.X represented himself to them also as Mr. X of Company X which contradicts Mr. X's statement acting as an individual and work colleague. I just want to check this will help my case even though no money exchanged hands with my neighbour. I have a further question about the court case.... My directions questionnaire stated there would be five witnesses (myself and four others). I now only have three. One is my neighbours wife who has submitted a witness statement to say she observed Mr. X at my house and knew he was supervising builders but she did not witness any discussions and does not want to attend court. The other witness would have been really helpful as he was the mediator in the meeting held with myself and Mr. X. where he admitted the dishonesty regarding where the money had been paid to. The mediator (previously my main witness) has told me he will not submit a statement or attend court to help my case. He knows the truth about everything and could have confirmed that: a) Mr X. was acting as Director of Company X b) Mr X took the money acting as Director of Company X, received it knowingly into his personal account and then transferred it from his personal account to his brother, never paying Company X which he advised me I was contracted with throughout. Since the mediator, Mr. X and I all work for the same company, the mediator has been advised by our company H.R. Dept that as we are both employees, he is not allowed to submit a witness statement or attend court to support my case as it is a conflict of interest and in addition his job was threatened. Shall I mention this to the judge? Will it harm my defence that I am missing two witnesses? Shall I simply say that they were unable to attend. Mr. X has no witnesses. I am unsure how the judge will view the situation.

Hi BazzaS, Many thanks for all the information and link. Very helpful. As far as the company, we had a hearing in March where he requested to set the judgement aside which was denied. At the hearing the judge asked him and I questions and he said the company had never traded and I contested this showing the judge an invoice from his company which I had paid. However, all the funds I believed I was paying he took into his personal bank account, never the company account for work done and spent. Hi Steampowered, Thank you for that. Under the circumstances I will be getting an order against the individual rather than against the company. Hi, I have some further questions which I can pm, but will put here as they may help others..... So, Mr. X's story is a little confusing and I want to make sure I focus on the right areas of law in court. I am assuming that the judge would expect me to reference the specific and exact points of law, especially for the fraudulent elements I am relying on for my case. Mr X, Director of Company X's defence is that he acted as an individual not as Director of Company X in any capacity and we never entered into a contract. He claims that I employed the builders (his company X's builders) personally and I gave him my house keys to let the builders into my home. He also claims that I contracted with the damp course company too and again, he only let them in my house under my instruction. I have submitted to the court in my exhibit bundle emails from the damp company to me confirming that they only dealt and contracted with him. Mr. X has admitted receiving the money into his personal account but on the basis as an individual not Director of Company X work colleague and transferred this to the damp company and builders. Mr. X has submitted only one bank statement to the court as evidence. However, this only shows payments from me which I was advised I was making to Company X for £102 (which he instructed me to pay into his personal account knowingly). This was for damp works. Mr X's bank statement also shows Mr. X making one payment to the damp company. However, the bank statement of Mr. X does not show any of the payments from me relating to the payments he is claiming he transferred to the builders which he claims I employed (these are in fact his builders employed by Company X). I have the following questions..... For the court case.... I assume when in court, I would reference the following or would the judge lead the way? Firstly, I assume the judge has to decide whether he did act as Director of Company X or not. If he agrees, I then need to refer to a) Common law and piercing the veil of incorporation and contest that as Director of Co. X Ltd, he is using this to avoid personal liability for dishonest actions and I am looking to sue him personally. b) Refer to the points of law contained within The Insolvency Act 1986 c.45, Part XVI, Section 423, subsections 2 and 3. That he entered into a transaction defrauding creditors contrary to s423 of the Insolvency Act 1986 on the basis that he took the funds into his personal bank account and transferred the money to his brother, thereby depriving me of access to this money as a creditor of “Co. X” Ltd. Therefore, he was acting fraudulently because he knowingly acted in breach of your statutory duties to Co. X Ltd. as a Director of X Ltd under the Companies Act 2006 and knew that the payment was an unlawful dividend contrary to s830 of the Companies Act 2006, as the company did not have any profits available for distribution to its shareholders. Another question I have is I am reimbursing my neighbour as they will be coming to court as a witness for me out of my own pocket. If the judge finds in my favour, can I request reimbursement of these expenses? As my neighbour is reluctant to discuss costs, I have used the jury service website as a guideline for reimbursement www.gov.uk/jury-service/overview and was going to print off this section and do a bank transfer to him, so I have a record for the court. Is this correct? Thanks in advance

Hi, I have new evidence that the guy I am taking to court as Director and individual has purposely transferred all his assets into his mother's name; car, house etc so he does not have any assets. Does this mean that if I get a judgement in my favour he will not have to pay anything or can the judge order it to come out of his salary? He has a job earning £30k a year. I would appreciate any insight or advice.

Hi Ganymede, Weird, but good news. I sent an email to the court explaining about when they sent me the paperwork and the short deadline and I received a General Form Of Judgement or Order dated 25 Apriil 2016 advising that: the judge sat and made the following order... " upon reading a letter from the Claimant (myself) it is ordered that 1. Time for compliance with paragraph 7 of the Order dated 4 March 2016 is extended to 4pm on 1 July 2016." I thought this might help others who have a similar problem. So, I spoke to my neighbours and they have done their witness statements too. The hearing is on 8th August 2016. There is one thing I am not clear on - for everyone who has submitted witnesses statements, do they all have to attend the court hearing? Would it be the case that only the witnesses who attend the hearing will have their statements accepted as evidence to support my case?

Hi, I am putting my Exhibits and Witness Statement together to send to the court today. I was going to put the court's set of paperwork in an A4 ring binder folder, hole punched and hand deliver it tomorrow as the Order says it must be delivered by 1st April 4pm. For the Defendant's pack, do I need to put theirs in an A4 ring binder folder too or can I hole punch the document and use legal tags through the holes in a clear single pocket as Ithe A4 folder won't fit in my envelope to post? Also, I assume I cannot hand deliver the paperwork to the Defendant's address, I should post to get proof of posting. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi, I have a query on my Exhibit and Witness Statements in relation to the page numbering system. This is my format. Is this ok? I understand I cannot staple anything so have to put it hole punched in A4 folder. Exhibit List XYZ.xls

Thank you. Well, he will definitely not agree so I will just send what I have and cross my fingers Thank you for the information I do appreciate it

Hi Bazzas, I have called the court and got no answer so have emailed explaining and asked for an extension. No response as yet. I was just thinking, looking at examples online, the Exhibit Bundle includes the witness statements at the beginning as part of the numbered pages in my bundle, so I cannot submit it with the correct page numbers until I have all my witness statements or is there a way round that?

Many thanks Steampowered. Yes, BazzaS was very helpful. Just finishing the Bundle and then tidying up my witness statements. Hopefully will be able to get an extension so I can get the rest of my witnesses to submit their statements in time.

Thank you BazzaS very much. Feeling less anxious

Hi, I am trying to put together the Exhibit bundle and have some questions. In the Exhibit bundle do I need to include the Particulars of Claim and Further Particulars of Claim Allegation of Fraud, the Defendant's Defence Statments and Statement of Claim? Having read through the guidelines it says I cannot rely on any evidence not already submitted to the court and all parties. In my mind, since I have already sent the Particulars of Claim and Further Particulars of Claim of Allegation of Fraud to the Defendants and the court and the court and I already have the Defendants Defence Statements and Statement of Claim I do not need to put these in the bundle? For the actual Exhibit bundle itself, all the pages are from different sources and reading up there is software which can add page numbers as in the bundle they all need to be page numbered in chronological order and ascending order. I am struggling to do this as not an IT whizz. Is it accepotable to the court for me to manually write on the page numbers to each page or I was thinking to reduce the pages a little in size, photocopy them and then write in the bottom right hand corner of each page. For the Exhibit content page, I am doing an excel spreadsheet listed, columns left to right; Date of document / event, description of document then page numbers.

Plus, my witnesses are away until Tuesday so can I get extension on the time to return the paperwork? The hearing is not until August 2016 so why do I have only a few days to submit everything?