Thanks for the support Adam and Chloe - unfortunately I received an Order from the District Judge this morning:- Upon the Courts own motion. The Court has made this order of its own initiative without a hearing. If you object to the order, you must make an application to have it set aside, varied or stayed within 7 days of receiving it IT IS ORDERED THAT 1. This matter is stayed until further order to await the outcome of the Test Case. 2. Permission to either party to apply to lift the stay. 3. The Defendent must advise the court of the outcome of the test case within 28 days of its conclusion and submit to the court any request for a further stay or proposed directions (to be agreed with the Claimant if possible). 4. The hearing on 6 September 2007 is vacated. 5. The Claimant shall collect their Trial Bundle from the court office by 4 pm on 5 September 2007 failing which the Trial Bundle shall be destroyed. Dated 28th August 2007. Funny how they told me yesterday that my case was still proceeding and would only be stayed if they received an application from Abbey (which they told me they hadn't received yesterday!) Don't think it is worth applying for the stay to be lifted as the Judge has applied it himself. If anyone knows of a stay that has been listed though, please let me know, it's just that I haven't heard of it happening and I am reluctant to throw any more money away on this case!

I have just spoken to Worcester County Court and they told me that my case is still listed to be heard on 6th September. Abbey have not requested a stay yet. I told them that other people I knew had not received notification that their hearing had been stayed until the actual day of the hearing and that I thought this was totally unacceptable. He said that unless any applications were received at the last minute they would notify me beforehand. I said that it was totally unfair that Abbey could request a stay just before the hearing when they haven't even submitted a bundle and obviously have no intention of defending my claim and that the stay would be granted without any recourse to myself and without me having any opportunity to argue against it. He sympathised with me but said that I would be entitled to apply for costs if I had a wasted journey. Not very happy because I am positive that a stay will be granted at the hearing if not before and all my effort will be a waste of time. Have got further documents ready to add to my bundle but really not sure if it's worth bothering to be honest. sorry for the long-winded rant but I am really depressed about all this at the moment as you can probably tell!

Still haven't received anything from the Court telling me that my case has been stayed - thought I would have done since Matt received his on the morning of his hearing from the same Judge! Not sure whether it's worth sending in this new bundle now as I presume mine will just be stayed too:(

Don't worry Chil, T & C's not really required for Abbey cases, mainly just for Lloyds cases, Abbey admit breaches of contract anyway in their defence. I didn't submit any either and my court date is 3 days after yours - good luck!

Just seen your post Matt - that is a disgrace! I can't believe you didn't even get a chance to argue your case at all. I suppose I shall be getting the same letter very shortly, DJ Parry is dealing with my case too. I'm so sorry Matt, just hope you have better luck getting your stay lifted. Keep posting and keep positive, I'm sure we'll all get our money back in the end and at least interest is being added daily.

B U M P ! !

Could some clever person out there please tell me if I have to submit a completely new bundle or whether I can just submit the new witness statement and any items referred to in there which I didn't send before - Many many thanks:)

Thank you so much for that psm - do you (or garyh if he reads this!) know if I have to re-submit my bundle to abbey too - I presume they don't even read them, probably "file" them like the jokers in the Natwest adverts:D

Thank you so much psm and GaryH for your help and advice, can I just ask if I need to resubmit my whole bundle or just the additions that I missed out before as per the new witness statement- it isn't actually due in until the 23rd August I sent it in early in case abbey applied for a stay as I thought it may help my case if I had already submitted it.

Hi psm, I have just read your thread and must congratulate you on your fabulous result and for your detailed report of what happened. My own court date isn't till Sept 6th and I have already submitted my bundle. Unfortunately I didn't find the witness statement you used and the one I used from the Court Bundle template did not mention the true cost to Abbey, in fact it was very short indeed compared to yours, does that mean I would not be able to use the same argument as you at the hearing? I did receive the same defence as you. Would be very grateful for any help at all! Lisa

Hi Matty, just wanted to wish you the very best of luck on Thursday, hope it all goes well for you, you seem really well prepared and I think that is really important. Let us all know how you get on.

How's your case going Matty - did you request a strike out? Have you heard anything from the Court as to whether they are staying bank charges cases?

Thanks for the link DS! Yes that is reassuring to read - feel a bit better now.

Thanks cf - not getting my hopes up as lots of courts seem to be going with the stays when it gets to hearing time, haven't actually heard of anyone attending a hearing recently and winning which is a bit offputting!

Hi dsilverstein, I'm with Worcester County Court

Submitted my bundle to the Court today, wait and see what happens now

I think I might send mine my Special Delivery too just so Abbey can't deny having received it! I suppose we will just have to wait with fingers crossed now that the Judge doesn't grant abbey a stay. Good luck Matty:)

Thanks for the support Matty and Charley! Nearly finished my bundles now just copying my statements will get them finished tomorrow and probably take one by hand to Court on Thurs and post abbey's off - do you know if it's best to send it via Special Delivery to Abbey or just normal recorded?

Well that's most of them then! Thanks Michael:D

QUICK QUESTION ABOUT MY COURT BUNDLE - when I am copying my bank statements showing the charges, is it ok just to copy the front page summary which has a list of all charges incurred that month and why? It would save me an awful lot of copying!!

No, the Abbey has until 22nd August to acknowledge the claim to the Court, if they do this they then have a further 14 days to submit their defence. It is only after these deadlines have passed that you can send in a Request for Judgement if Abbey have not responded. You would have to check with the court first to see if they have received anything and even after the deadline, the court will often accept their defence late and not issue judgement. Have a good read of Abbey threads so you know what to expect as this is standard procedure. Good Luck!

I have decided to get on with my bundle and get it in early don't know if this will earn me any brownie points but at least it will be out of the way and not a last minute rush! Is there anything new I need to add in light of the OFT ruling does anyone know???

woohoo!! Just had my court date through - 6th September. DISTRICT JUDGE PARRY has considered the statements of case and allocated the claim to the small claims track. The hearing of the claim will take place at XXXX on 6th September 2007 at Worcester County Court and should take no longer than 10 minutes. The court must be informed immediately if the case is settled by agreement before the hearing date. Each party shall deliver to every other party and to the court office copies of all documents (including any experts' report) on which he intends to rely at the hearing no later than 14 days before the hearing. The original documents shall be brought to the hearing. Date: 03 August 2007 So bundles have to be submitted by 23rd August at the latest which is only just over two weeks away! My court is still saying they have not heard from a higher judge that any cases are to be stayed so are still carrying on as normal and have heard nothing from the Abbey regarding a stay either. Fingers crossed they will fail to submit their bundle!!

Hi Leecabs - just came across your thread which I found very interesting as I am in a similar position to you. My claim is for almost 8000 and a few weeks ago I was offered 7200 which i refused, my AQ went in on 1st June and I have still not received a court date! Because of this and after reading the paragraph on their website about honouring previous offers, I emailed Inga last weekend saying that due to the circumstances I would reluctantly accept their previous offer of 7200. I have had a response saying that offer has now expired. I had another reply from Clare Fletcher denying that I had even had that offer so I sent her a copy of their email containing offer - they haven't responded to that! Would be glad to hear how you get on or if you come up with any ideas on how we could get round this. Best of luck!!

Thanks for that Ladidi! That is what I expected really, I think I was just hoping that someone would say that yes, Abbey should honour that offer, which would have made me feel alot better, never mind I'll just have to be more patient