He admitted he had made a mistake and told us to take independent legal advise. He sent us his bundle but with all things happening in our lives we only sent it to one legal company to look at it on a no win no fee. They needed a deposit of around £2,000 to look at the case. We didn't have funds available. Is there a time limit ?

Thank you for your advise and if you could recommend any steps forward we can take suing the former solicitor we would really welcome your advice. It has been a really bad experience.

1. The right of access which is the subject of this dispute was created on 31 /07/1987 by the previous owner,the land was split down the centre to build what we are now living in. Planning started in 1987 to build this infill property. Our property then took ownership of the land when this was purchased by their parents. The rights were transferred to them. The original ownership was transferred. Their was one existing property with a right of access and now the second property were the land was transferred from. The drive was access for those two properties and our predecessors the owned of property. There have not been any other transfers until the Mediation Tomlin order was issued. We had to back down under the pressure of more court threats to allow the passing bay. A granted it to the then owner of property B. The land the right of access was granted over was defined as...access way 3meter track down to main road. 2. We bought property A on May 11 2011- We still know the original owner of the Claimants property. The Claimants moved in approx. 6 months after us. 3. We had no problems with the then the previous owners of property but they had bought it 6 years previously knocked the bungalow down and put up a kit house. They then sold to the Claimant. 3. The claimant bought property B on Sept Oct 2011..Also didn’t transfer all land until a later date. The land apparently was in our name, 4. Starting in 2014/16 the claimant has repeatedly complained about...The complaints started in 2012-14 accusing me of being a public nuisance for not reversing out into the queue of traffic I had come in from 2/3 way up drive when Claimants wife drove at me. They took down one of our trees from the rear garden, building fences and gates at the front of their property when it had planning permission for soft landscaping. At the moment I'm not sure if there have been two claims made, and one has already gone to mediation, or what. It went to mediation the Claimant had a QC. They booked date not giving us an option I had found a direct access barrister but was unavailable on their booked date. A Tomlin order was the result. The POC was already lodged with the court in case we didn't agree in the mediation. Our solicitor was out of his depth. They are aggressive and want us to do as they demand. The OP At the moment I'm not sure if there have been two claims made, and one has already gone to mediation, or what. The OP was their reassurance of getting us to agree to their terms. The Court date was already fixed made no mention of mediation in the first post and just attached three documents with no real background explanation of what it was about. the documents give detail of what they wanted. The plan shows the drive. We are in the thick line. And the hearing is less than two weeks away. yes Why has the claimant retained a QC for a right of way dispute? We are sure it was to get what he wanted, he works for an investment bank, Bragged to my husband he has deep pockets. Has the OP really already paid over £25k to their solicitor - who seems to have had the wool pulled over their eyes? We have already paid that in legal fees trying to defend ourselves, it was a kind friend who recommended we sought help here. I think more detail and background is required. made no mention of mediation in the first post and just attached three documents with no real background explanation of what it was about. I hope this explains some part. I have 10 files with the whole case in and don't know how to sort this out. Thank you

Apologies, I must have scrolled down thinking I had lost what I had written. You will see a disjointed reply

We went to mediation that was booked by the claimant without informing us of a date. I was unable to find a direct access barrister to help us as they had QC. Our solicitor was out of his depth. 15 hours later we signed a tomlin order and took a copy home. Having been threatened of court proceedings which were already in place for 3 weeks later. Never realised we had a draft which we thought was bad enough. A year later found out that there was a different version of what we had signed. when a surveyor looked at the document in detail and prompted by the Claimant. Our solicitor then asked a barrister for the legal implications. He replied that we had signed away another part of the drive to be cleared now know as section A that had never been discussed at the mediation. I wrote to the mediating barrister who oversaw the mediation to ask for notes as Both my husband and I and our solicitor never discussed are A with anyone that day. Our solicitor had to resign and told us to seek legal advise. He waived his outstanding fees of £5,000 we had paid him in excess of £25,000 We really need to know how read that POC made by their barrister and that letter that started all this. The other side booked a court hearing date prior to a mediation. We were forced into mediation date 30th May 2018 they had a QC We had not been given a choice of dates. I tried to book a direct access barrister. The three I had researched were unavailable on that date. it was half term we had no child care. The POC attached on the first post had been served with the court previously and the date of hearing confirmed. the mediation went on for 14 hours and in our view forced to decide on a section of the driveway that had not been driven on for over a hundred years. A year later we realised we had come away from that mediation with a draft of that Tomlin Order which made no mention of an area now known as area A This was due to our solicitors incompetence that he didn't pick it up. He contacted a barrister himself to clarify after the Claimants solicitor perused us to have area A cleared. To find that we had signed a document relinquishing control to have all the mature trees and shrubs cleared for the claimants benefit. We confirm as our solicitor did that this area was never discussed in that meeting. The area is right in front of our property, we would have defended it as the houses in front of us will overlook our property. It was part of planning back in 1987-89 that as an infill the adjoining old properties had to be screened. We need as much help as we can get. I contacted the barrister mediator to ask for notes relating to that mediation. I never had a reply. We feel like we had a gun to our heads to sign something that now has caused us so much stress and worry.

We would be really grateful if someone please help with our driveway/land issue. We have a court hearing date of 28th June which originated from the POC attached. We have made notes on this original document and are looking for advise on this legal issue. We are currently working on a witness statement which we can post tomorrow. Any help would be really appreciated. If you need any further info or evidence please just ask. layout plan.pdf Original letter.pdf Particulars of Claim with notes.pdf

Could you please help us form a response to this letter attached. We have received this response today from the letter on the above attachment. It was sent to the CEO on 24th May - Delivered on 25th May 23 asking for a 14 day response. The reply came from the Director of Finance not the CEO and dated 9th June 23. Please see attached letter. The letter was headed with our daughters name spelt incorrectly which I find in itself disrespectful, however not important as the main point is them completely ignoring the content of the letter we sent and telling us to deal with the DCA . We have continued to send letters to the school but they have and are completely ignoring us. Please advise how we can get the attention of the CEO. Is there a way to make them see that if they did take us to court, their behaviour would be considered obtuse We iterate that we have asked for a meeting from the start of the discussions in March 22 when we needed to meet with them to discuss our need to get a family friend to release an investment as we still have no way of borrowing money from a bank. Our plight was ignored on a basic bursary and scholarship awarded prior to our difficulties. The back ground was previously posted. Please let me know if you wish it resending. Thank you, we really appreciate your help and advice. Dear PARENT STUDENTS NAME I am writing in response to your letter to Mr CEO dated 23 May 2023. I have now had an opportunity to review your case and understand you have faced numerous personal financial challenges during and after STUDENTS time at SCHOOL. Although STUDENT left SCHOOL in Summer 2020, the fee arrears began in 2017 and the matter was passed to a Debt Collection Consultant in June 2022. The School repeatedly requested a payment plan and you were advised that if a plan was not agreed the matter would be passed to our Debt Collection Agency which would incur significant additional costs to yourselves Unfortunately, as the matter was not resolved, it was therefore passed to DCA to act on behalf of the School to recover monies outstanding including interest payments and costs. Whilst the initial outstanding amount has now been paid, further costs have been applied to the account given the significant delays. Given the above, and as previously advised, please can you liaise directly with DCA, who are authorised to act on behalf of the Foundation, regarding the amount outstanding on the account. Yours sincerely Director of Finance and Resources

We have written the attached letters to the school CEO Governors and ISA - Any feedback would be welcomed. Thank you. Board of Governors letter 24 5 2023 CAG copy PDF.pdf

The judge has granted a court hearing set for April 24 I made a payment as I cannot afford to have a CCJ. I will need advice on how to proceed

Please find attached a PDF pf a letter I wish to send the the board of governors. I know it is lengthy but I would really appreciate your views on the attached letter with regard to all the issues at the school. This is following your earlier advice to ignore the DCA Thank you Board of Governors letter 24 5 2023 CAG copy PDF.pdf

Could I ask for clarity on our issue of interest being charged on our paid school fees. We are writing to the school advising them that we will only communicate with them. The school previously passed all our details to a Debt Collection Agency to chase the interest are they allowed to do this without our consent ?

Thank you for highlighting that clause in the contract but our circumstances had vastly changed.. I understand but we communicated many times in many meetings with the Bursar and confirmed it it all our written communication prior to them adding the extra £10,000 in interest, We have confirmation verbally from the Head at the time and the Bursar that interest was not charged. We have a recording from a Zoom meeting and it was confirmed prior to us borrowing the by the accounts £26,000 from a family friend to clear the balance. The words were if you don't clear the balance we will add interest. We communicated strongly we needed a meeting several times to show our intent That was the final communication. We paid £400 a month until the funds could be released from their investment. Their comment back to the DCA was "we never agreed to accent £400 a month But that wasn't communicated to us at the time nor did they take our offer to pay £22,000 immediately. I hope that clarifies how it came about. We had asked numerous times for an increased Bursary as we had Care home fees 0f £1200 a week. Our daughters treatment added an £26,000 over two and a bit years.. Our MT forms were clear about our financial constraints as the original bursary was granted prior to our daughter starting the school. We asked for help multiple times. They had their focus on putting a charge over our property. SK

An agreement was in place with the bursar not to charge interest. We asked for a meeting as Bursar left. School wouldn't meet with us.The interest was charged when they handed it to DCA