Hi there. I hope this post makes sense. I'll try to be concise We bought a used car from a dealer and moved 250 miles away. 20 days later a grinding noise, which may have always been present and mistaken for a sports growl, became so loud that my wife pulled over and called the AA. It was taken to a local garage who had a transmission specialist tear down the gearbox to find the mainshaft was badly worn. The brake discs were also found to be badly corroded. It was the garage's opinion that there was no way this could have been caused in 20 days of driving. And that to a trained ear, the fault should have been noticeable at the point of sale. Total cost of repair £1200 We were in touch with the dealer throughout this diagnostic process. After speaking directly to the mechanic, he sent me an email stating that it was not his fault, that he couldn't tear down every gearbox before sale, and that the damage was most likely caused by reckless driving. He offered to pay about half of the fees, which I rejected and have filed a claim using MCOL. I have documented the damage and I'm the process of getting an independent report based on the evidence I have. My claim is that given the price and mileage of the car, it was not fit for purpose. Because the car was in 1,000 pieces on the other side of the country, I didn't feel it was fair (on the dealer) or convenient for us to pursue my right to reject. Instead I asked him to meet the full cost of the repair. It was the only convenient solution that I could see for all parties. Having said that, I did present both options to the dealer, but as he ultimately did not admit liability, my only course of action was to pay for the repairs and pursue the costs in court. Here is (one of) my questions. By bypassing my right to reject, where does the burden of proof lie in terms of the faults being present at the point of sale?? It is my understanding that by invoking the right to reject within the first 30 days, the burden of proof lies with the consumer and after the 30 days expires, that burden is transferred to the dealer. I essentially bypassed that right, and moved straight onto the right to a repair - but still within the first 30 days!? I have quite a few other questions as I begin to prepare my case, but this is one that is nagging me right now. Any advice, much appreciated. OR... perhaps once it reaches the courts, burden of proof no longer applies, and it simply moves to the balance of probability? (we both provide evidence)

I went off sick from work mid Feb 2017 following several meetings with my managers regarding increased workload (we had a mass increase in patients - in the hundreds!), not enough manpower or hours to cover the workload etc. I was also prohibited from working overtime and so were my staff (I am a Practice Manager working in a GP Practice for the last ten years with an unblemished record) and eventually I started slipping behind in my work as I was unable to keep up with increase and very little was being put in place to support myself or my staff. Hence I could not cope with the stress and went sick. However, prior to going sick I had taken the petty cash home with me (I often take work home and my managers are aware of this, although they aren't always aware of what exactly I take home but I'm trusted to do so on my own judgement). I still had it with me when I went sick but then returned it to the Practice and advised that I had taken it home. I heard no more about it and as far as I was concerned, that was that. However, I went for my return to work interview almost five weeks after going sick and was given most of my personal belongings by the covering manager prior to the meeting and when I questioned why I was given my belongings in the meeting, I was asked to leave the room. When I returned I was suspended (on full pay) for an allegation of suspicion of theft. By all accounts the petty cash was down. However, during investigation it was all accounted for, and it was found that no money was missing at all. So... they changed the allegation to potential theft as I'd taken the petty cash home without prior authorisation and it was escalated to disciplinary (there is no policy in place to seek authority to take it home; it was, however, common practice for me to take work/work things home frequently and my managers were aware of this). I attended for disciplinary and recorded the meeting with the consent of everyone present. During the meeting, it was clear that my manager hadn't paid a great deal of notice to the investigation as they were questioning me on things that had been addressed at investigation, but weren't aware of the answers I was giving. I practically had a rerun of the investigation, to the point where my union rep had to intervene and stipulate that the investigation meeting had already taken place. My manager also threw lots of irrelevant things at me and tried to make me feel like I'd been emotionally manipulative in the past as I'd become tearful on occasions when I'd felt out of my depth with the increased workload that they were more than aware of. The outcome took two and a half weeks to be reached and I was given a final written warning on the basis that no such work should be taken home in future without explicit authority (by no means will I be taking any work home from now on after what I've been put through!). However, when I questioned when I would be expected to return to work, I was told that it hasn't been decided yet and that they need to discuss my return to work with my union rep, which I thought was rather odd. I assumed that since an outcome had been reached and I was in receipt of this in writing, I was no longer suspended and should return to work at the next available opportunity. My other issue is that I feel this was orchestrated from the start because not only was I pushing for extra wages for the staff (they are on minimum wage and have huge stresses and responsibilities for patients), but also extra staff hours to meet the demands of the increased workload. On top of this, there was conflict between myself and one of the partners (has been for some time now) and her conduct towards me. She often goes over my head, undermines me, speaks rudely to me, speaks down to me, shouts at other staff members which I've had to address, has interfered with recent job interviews that I've had in order to ensure I didn't leave the practice (leave them without a manager; not because they didn't want to lose me particularly). They even offered me more money and a position to manage another practice as well in order for me to stay, although neither came to fruition. This resulted in me trying to address the conflict formally with my other managers and we had to have a mediation meeting just a few weeks prior to me going sick. I'd also formally requested that they review my wage to reflect my role and duties as I've verbally requested this many times in the past and it hasn't been done properly. While being off sick, they managed to find cover for me in the form of a retired practice manager who gave up a full time job elsewhere to cover me initially for four weeks. This has obviously rolled on but has made me think that now they realise they can find someone to replace me and they won't be without a manager in post, they are now keen to get rid as opposed to keeping me (and the likelyhood of the covering manager pushing for extra wages is very slim, not to mention being 'fresh blood' in the practice so no animosity between her and the partner I've been having issues with; therefore being less of a nuisance to the Partners). Prior to the disciplinary meeting, I also requested access to my work emails because I felt that there were things that would be pertinent to the disciplinary meeting, which was granted under supervision (naturally). However, when I got there, I was already logged on (the interim manager had my login details NOT provided by me and without my knowledge) and some of the emails that I was looking for had been deleted, and the deleted folder completely emptied. She had also been using my email account despite having her own NHS email account and instead of my "out of office reply" being amended to contact her email address in my absence, it was taken off completely so there is now nothing to say I am not in work. I work under the NHS but in a private practice and I've attached part of their email misuse policy: I also thought that this may be contravening the Computer Misuse Act 1990, attached info: On top of this, I am also a patient at the same practice and while I do not generally see one of the partners, I am in the process of joining a different practice as this is a huge conflict of interest. However, I have been alerted through an appointment with another clinician there that my records have been accessed many times by the Partners (my managers) after me attending the surgery to see either a locum doctor or a nurse. I don't think this is acceptable as I feel they were checking what I was saying to the clinicians and trying to preempt what, if anything, I was planning to do about the conflict with one of the partners. So my questions are: 1. Am I to assume that I am no longer suspended? 2. Should it just be as simple as returning to work or will there have to be further meetings to move forward? 3. I feel that this has been blatantly blown out of proportion in order to try and get rid of me now that they have someone else in post on a lesser wage than me who will be less of a nuisance to them. Am I in a position to do anything about this? 4. What should I do about the email situation? Do I report it to the NHS or the data commissioner or someone? 5. Should I report the GP's (my managers) for accessing my medical records for employment reasons (or rather, no clinical reason)? They had no reason to look at my consultations and had they not been my employers, they wouldn't have had access to do so. I have been offered a conditional offer of a post elsewhere, pending references,which I have accepted and I am planning on telling my new employers what has gone on (this all happened after I was offered the post so I didn't NOT declare it at the time of interview). However, I cannot hand my notice in until I've received an unconditional offer and I know the new job is safe. Once this is in place, I will be handing in my notice. One thing I've learnt is that loyalty and dedication to the job counts for nothing these days; we are but a number on the payroll, a bum on a seat. HELP!!!!! Save Save

Hi everyone, I have a court hearing with Lowell's in 2 days time, and I'm wondering whether I have a leg to stand on. I admit, I've been stupid in not dealing with this earlier, but I suffer from depression and stress, and this was something I just couldn't deal with. The brief circumstances are that a catalogue (Jacamo) was apparently taken out in my name, at my previous address (where my ex boyfriend still lived). At the time the account was taken out, I was living in Ireland. The first I knew of this debt (£900) was when 2 letters arrived to my new address in the UK, around a year ago, from Lowell's and BW Legal, and then court documents a couple of months later. Naively, I have filled in all of my defence submitted to the courts simply saying that I had no knowledge of any debt, and asking that Lowell/BW Legal provide evidence (at this point I didn't know what the debt was for, or when it was from, so I was unable to give a proper defence). I know now that I should have done things differently, but that's spilt milk now. On the last day of filing for evidence, Lowell/BW Legal sent me a pack containing - - reconstituted Credit Agreement, which contains my name and old address (hand written), and a scribbled signature in their section. Nothing is dated, and it does not have my signature (I know that this is no longer required). In addition, the print is copied so badly that the text of the agreement is unreadable. - print out from their system showing various amounts, dates, etc - print out of what was ordered - letter, dated 29 April 2014, sent to my old address, (on blank paper, no letterhead, so not entirely clear who is supposed to have sent it) saying that the account with JD Williams has been sold to Lowell Portfolio I - letter , dated 29 April 2014, sent to my old address, from Lowell, introducing themselves. -letter, dated 19 April 2016, sent to my current address, from Lowell saying that I have not repaid the account and it has been sent to BW Legal. -letter, dated 19 April 2016, sent to my current address, from BW Legal saying that they have been instructed to commence Legal Action. The letters from 2014 were not received by me, due to me not living at the address they were sent. They appear to provide a Notice of Assignment, but not a Deed of Assignment - does this matter? There doesn't appear to be any copy of Default notices which should have been sent - does this matter? I'll get scans of all of these uploaded, but in the meantime, does anyone have any advice? Since I did not know the details of the debt until after I had to submit my evidence, am I unable to take anything in to court to prove that I was living elsewhere at these times (including when the debt was originally incurred)? I'm just so mad about this....I trusted my ex boyfriend, but it seems that that trust was misplaced. Here are the scans of the documents they've sent, excluding the list of what was 'purchased' (which I'm not sure is relevant - if it is I'll post it). I'll blocked out all personal details. Credit Agreement (address is my old address at which I was not living at the time) Print Out from their system - showing my current address Assignment of Debt Letter from JD Williams?? sent to my old address at which I was not living at the time. Introducing Lowell Letter - again, sent to my old address Lowell 'Litigation Letter, sent to my current address BW Legal Letter of Claim, sent to my current address on the same day as the above. Is there anything here to go on? doc1.pdf

Hello, I started a small claim in court against my landlord a few moths ago... Today I received the "Notice of Trial Date" (Form N172), that says I have to pay a hearing fee. Something I already expected. The problem is that I don't know exactly how to do that and there are no instructions in that letter. Do I have to send a cheque to my local county court (where the case was transferred)? Do I have to write a small letter saying that the attached cheque is for the claim number XXXX? I don't find related court fees to this step. BTW, I remember in the process, weeks ago, I received I letter that said that "This claim has been transferred to your county court at XXX. All correspondence should be directed to the transferred court" I search on the net but don't not exactly what to do. Thanks.

In a nutshell. I had a business in Glasgow but now live in Manchester. A summons was raised for liability against me in Glagow and I attended the hearing. I was v close to having it struck out there but a request was made for a position statement from me and then a reply from the council. Before adjournment I asked about my costs as the travel alone was close to 200 miles each way plus time to get there. I mentioned this is court and the advisor did mention "Ex Parti costs" if I won but to be fair, I didnt understand but it sounded like I could claim this back if won. The council have emailed me and muttered this that and the other but said " "the Council will oppose an application and case law does allow public bodies to pursue legal proceedings “without fear of exposure to undue financial prejudice if the decision is successfully challenged.” So they are saying they can drag me 400 miles twice and theres nothing I can do about it. I was going to instruct a solicitor because I struggled to speak at the hearing but now they are saying even if I win, I wont get my costs. Is this true? Also on the day, they issued 600 summons at cost of £60. £36,000 for 1 morning s attendance. Thanks

Hi, I am currently representing my daughter on the McKenzie friend basis in her claim for unfair dismissal on the grounds of discrimination ( pregancy ) We have followed all the procedures through ACAS and we are currently taking her employer through the Employment Tribunal, which has taking about seven months to get to a Trial which has been listed for next week 4/5th February 2016, this was after a previous hearing. Today i receive a letter from the Tribunal stating that the trial might be postponed on the grounds that despite knowing for a number of months that in any event, the trial would be considered by a panel rather than a single judge because it is a discrimination case, to use this as a reason, and so late in the day does not add up, they would have known months in advance that a panel would need to be assigned, so in using this has delayed even further. The Tribunal are also aware that the Respondents are in abuse of process as they have failed to abide the previous order for them to provide a trial bundle, witness statements and further and better particulars in readiness for the trial next week? Because of this we made an application for the Tribunal to make an unless order for this evidence to be giving as all of it is central to the claim and it had been previously ordered. We have also written to the other side and in anticipating the Tribunal not making the unless order, which seems very reasonable, by stating that we would provide our own trial bundle and giving them seven days to object. Since all of this has happened in the last couple of days, the Tribunal as it would appear are bending over backwards in allowing the previous orders be breached and ignored and they have also giving the Respondents more time to defend a claim that evidently cannot be defended because of the circumstances which led to my daughter being dismissed. Whilst i am not legally qualified as to adjudge it would a appear that (a) she has been denied the right to a fair hearing because her opponents have abused orders which if followed would have allowed the trial to proceed and ( b) the Tribunal could have not only made the request for that evidence to be disclosed, in postponing the trial next week, giving those facts and the excuse of needing a panel, which would have been knowledge as soon as pleadings were made, i feel this is unequal and unfair as the Tribunal are not only allowing orders to be breached, they are also giving the Respondents more time to further breach the orders. My daughter i feel has a very strong case and my theory is that because of the strength of her case, the opponents and the tribunal are doing everything in their power to keep this matter out of court. It is hard enough and most times financially impossible for pregnant woman to establish unfair dismissal claims because they are pregnant, the Tribunal who should protect, if my experiences are anything to go on make it even more difficult by allowing employers the right to ignore orders and as in this case give further encouragement for this to happen again by postponing without reason or justification. Any help would be greatly appreciated by this angry dad:mad2:

Hi all This one's a worrying departure from companies generally steering clear of taking people to court for old/possibly dead debts - Hoist Portfolio Limited (HPH2 Ltd) have had a CCJ issued on me for a years old debt that may be statute barred. *If* it is the debt I am thinking it is, it is from an old bank account and is an amalgamated loan, overdraft and credit card debt that I had when leaving them after I lost my job and became very ill. I had already made several years repayments on it while it was in the black, but then became unable to continue and had to default. I sought advice from CCCS and established I could not afford to pay them any more than a token £1 a month payment. Some time later, my father came into some money and kindly offered to settle it for me. I also had another debt so he divided the money up in a percentage between the two as advised by CCCS. The other company happily took the offer, this bank declined. He made them a second offer. They declined. We explained I was in ill health and would never be able to pay it back in full so they really should accept the offer as it was all they were likely to get and the offer would not be on the table forever etc. They declined. I am afraid I do not know the dates of any of this, only that it is several years ago now. I wrote to them asking them to correspond with my father not me as I was in poor health and could not reply in a timely manner. Several other companies bought the debt, my father made the first two or three the same offer, they all declined, we did not hear anything for about two years. Enter Hoist. They have decided 1) not to contact my father but myself and consequently I do not have most of their letters as 2) they also have the wrong address on their letters, the address of the 'main' building I live in, not the actual address so I have not been getting them. The first letter I did get was one from the court telling me they had issued a CCJ against me! immediately confirmed it was real and contacted CCCS (now Stepchange) who advised me to write to the court asking for motion to put aside, which I did and also sent a CCA request to them, which they returned with the postal order and no documents. still do not have the documents (August). the hearing to set aside is on Thursday, which I just found out, since they are STILL sending the letters - including the court - to the wrong address! made it quite clear in my reply they needed to address the letters properly for them to get to me. was not aware that there would be a hearing to decide if we were to have a hearing. presumed the judge would look through the letter I sent and decide. After digging through the junk mail, found a letter from Hoist, who said they will not 'challenge' this hearing to set aside, which is very nice of them, as long as I started making payments. They still did not enclose the documents I requested. the hearing is on Thursday am I was wondering if there was anything I should know/bear in mind from other people who have done this. My defence is 1) sent to the wrong address 2) asked to correspond with my father due to my ill health and have ignored request 3) they have added interest to the debt when I was told 'once it is amalgamated interest and fees can no longer be applied, so that's one good thing about this'. 4) the debt may be statute barred 5) I have asked to see original docs and they have ignored request 6) if this is the debt I think it is - my Dad made several offers which they declined, and he explained that they could either take it or nothing, and they declined. So...well... 7) it may not even be a real debt or mine - I need to see the docs, which they have not sent. My name is actually very common, it is not completely impossible. I guess I go there on Thursday in my best suit and go through those things? It is really having a terrible effect on my already terrible health and I am so fed up with the whole thing. I believe we have tried our best to come up with a solution and it is not my fault that I became ill and unable to pay. Our offer was fair and certainly, for a debt co who probably bought it for 15 per cent or whatever, I do not understand why they have chosen this route rather than the money. Thank you all in advance for your help. These forums are literally life-saving. xxx

Hi, General advice needed. Last year a judgement was issued against me. I was not aware of the judgement taking place. I have no recollection of receiving notice although I cannot say that with any certainty. This is because I was in the midst of some pretty severe health problems which have required multiple operations and at the time the judgement was issued, I was on morphine for pain management and anti-depressants to treat my depression. I became aware of this a couple of months ago and began seeking advice on the steps open to me. It became clear the only thing I could do was to have the judement set aside. In my application I provided a letter from my GP, information on my condition and information on the medication that I was on. Is this likely to be enough? I contacted the court this morning and they said they'd be in touch in about three weeks with a date for a hearing. Will I definitely get a hearing? What are my chances of success and do you have any suggestions for how I approach it? Thanks, Wrighty

Hello all, Looking to see if I can get some advice. I've received a letter titled 'change of address notice' with my details saying they've updated my new contact details and I must contact them about non-domestic arrears for a small shop I let out. A few things I'm concerned about. Firstly, this is the first letter I've received about this, I'm worried any arrears might have gone through the courts and that the sheriff officers might turn up to take away my things. Secondly the shop has been let for the last 10 years and it qualifies for 100% rates relief there shouldn't be any rates to pay, even if there were it would be by the tenant. Called them today, and tried explaining the 2 above poinst but didn't get anywhere. They told me I owed £7000 something (can't remember exact figure) a nd that I had to dispute it with the council and in the meanwhile the proceedings would continue. Council had a massive queue and I didn't get through before it closed. Now really worried! Apologies for the wall of text and thanks in advance to anybody that can help.

Hello, This is my first post on this forum. I have a small claims hearing to try and recover some money from a tradesman who didn't want to honour our contract and kept getting payments out of me before the work stage was complete. I issued proceeding and he did a bogus counterclaim - reversed all my grievances in his favour The case has finally reached the hearing stage and I would like some advice. 1) When I sent my defence to the counterclaim, the court helpline told me to send in all my evidence, photos, etc as this would be used in the hearing. I recently received the hearing date letter and it advised me to send in my witness statement and evidence - what happened to my evidence I sent in with my defence of the counterclaim? - will this be in the file and can I use this? 2) What is the normal format of the hearing? 3) How strict will the rules be regarding evidence ? 4) If I am not happy being denied use of my evidence sent in at an earlier time, can I do anything about it, such as ask for a change in date, etc? Thanks in Advance, EddieQ1

Hi all, I have a court hearing with money barn in 3 weeks where they are seeking a return of a car I have on finance with them. Firstly, hands up, entirely my own fault. Circumstances are this. I haven't yet paid a third. In february I got into financial difficulty and instead of discussing it with them I did a fine impression of an ostrich and ignored all their letters. One of them was a termination notice, that much I do remember, and it followed all the others into the bin. (No, I'm not sure what I hoped to achieve by that either.) I then got a letter stating that they had passed it to their repo company who would be in touch. I heard nothing then until I got this pack from the court telling me of the court date. They are seeking: - the full finance amount outstanding, including all the interest that would have been payable under the 5 year contract (even though it's just over 2 years) - compensation - the return of the car I contacted them via email, apologised, explained about being poorly and told them that I would be able to bring the account fully up to date on the 29th of November. They declined. Is there anything I can do? I think they're taking the a bit wanting all the money AND the car? I have to fill in a defence form and was thinking about saying that they can have the car and the outstanding finance LESS the book value of the car. Any suggestions?

Have received allocation of hearing and instructions to supply witness statements and documents to court by certain date. I am the claimant. I am trying to reply to the initial defence to the claim which is an absolute mess with disjointed emails. Ridiculous statements and allegations, referring to me that I have 'dementia' am also delusional, and paranoid" and asks the judge to take these abusive comments into consideration as I 'clearly don't know what time of day it is, never mind the truth'. The defendant has supplied a document which she refers to as an email sent to her In fact it is a 'chopped down' private message sent to someone else. The only way she can get access to this message is by either hacking my account or getting it from the person to whom it was sent. Reading more carefully her reason for supplying this is she now states that she sent it to the police in response to my allegation of theft of my property to which the case relates. I can actually see that she did as there is a police email address above. Now I have the full message, and it clearly is from me to someone else via a messaging system, not an email to her, and it is now obvious why she 'chopped' the message as the full message 'shoots her in the foot' so to speak. She has also denied, several times that events took place, highlighted for the judge in bold, and yet I have documented proof that these events took place as she admitted the same on paper. I am not sure how to respond to these issues in my witness statement. Should I bring them directly to the attention of the judge or just refer to them in my statement? How is the judge likely to view her deliberate deception, particularly sending a document that was never sent to her that she then sent to the police claiming it was from me to her, but she thenalso tampered with it? How is the judge likely to respond to her abusive comments that I have Dementia, am delusional and paranoid and that people with dementia cannot remember anything. Any comments would be helpful, thanks.

Greetings.. Hi, I am new to this forum .. ITS REALLY A GREAT SITE. I would like to get some advice from your great service for my claim case . I explain briefly below; I am the Claimant and a judgment was given DEFAULT in favour of me in a county court for my unpaid wages as Defendant did not come to the HEARING. As defendant did not pay me , I was about to make an application to the court for the service of Bailiff , then Court Notice arrived with the copies of judgment set aside application and a witness statement of defendant , saying as follows; '' TAKE NOTICE that the application to set aside judgement Hearing will take place on 1st November 2016. 30 Minutes has been allowed for the Hearing '' please kindly help me to answer the following; 1. Should I take my eye witness along with me to this Hearing to prove my case which I hope will help not to set judgment aside ? 2. Can I send my witness statement with my REPLY to the court for the defendantst false details? 3. Actually what will happen at this Hearing and what will the Judge ask me ? 4. What is the consent order ? I coundnt understand it fully .please give some details.. 5. How to write to Judge to make an Order to the defendant to bring some documents for the HEARING , I many times had asked for from defendant which he did not serve me yet? hope you will find some time to answer me kindly.

Hi All, I'd really appreciate some advise please, I'm in court next week for a set aside hearing. It's in relation to a Cap 1 cc claim for just over 1k, the court papers were sent to my old address so I never received them, I'm certain I gave my new address to all concerned back in 2007/8 but cannot prove it. I don't think it's statute barred but I can't find when I last made a payment. I sent a SAR to Cabot and have received it back on a CD, there is no default notice or credit agreement on the CD, I've read that they are not obliged to send these with a SAR in their response to my request they state "We may not hold information such as your credit agreement or statements on file. In order to obtain this information, we recommend you contact the original lender. However, in the event that the original lenders have supplied us with this information, the documents will be included with your SAR. I guess my question is can I use this in my application to set aside the judgement and CCJ, as just relying on the fact the papers were sent to my old address may not help me get a set aside? Many thanks

Please forgive the length of this post. Very stressed mother of 20, 18 and 14. 18 year old staying on foster child. All in uni, college. Husband primary carer for looked after child. We rented the same house for 13 years, initially through an agent, but the landlord took over himself for the last 3 years. He was a pain and kept increasing rent every 6 months. We should have moved, but, children, work school etc. He issued a section 21 notice at which point we started looking for somewhere to live. I lost £750 in deposit and referencing fees. I have to admit that business wasn't going well and money was very tight so our rent was not very regular but it was paid. He applied for eviction and claimed arrears of rent via a money claim. The court refused him possession saying section 21 defective and he appealed. We stopped paying rent to save up a deposit and we finally found somewhere to live and moved. In the meantime, moneyclaim came to court. Sum was increased from £5k to £16k and court gave him judgement despite no notification on increased claim before I got to court. I told judge I would have come to court to with counsel if I had known. I appealed and was denied leave to appeal, but granted an oral hearing. Meantime, landlord withdrew appeal to judgement on Section 21 and asked we make repayment proposal as we have 2 very successful businesses. He has had in his head for years that we have money just don't want to pay him. He has been telling me he will ruin my credit for years everytime I argued about rent increase, looks like he will shortly get his wish. I will have to sign on and claim HB to be have any hope of being able to pay next month's rent if I don't get a job asap. I need transcripts, but can't afford to pay as I am currently unemployed though not on job seekers, I need to send a bundle to court shortly in advance of hearing but only have a thin idea of it needs to go in. Any, all advice most gratefully received.

I have an ongoing dispute with a storage company the action now being in court a claim by them of approx 5k and a counterclaim by me for approx 13k for loss of equipment whilst in storage. Matters came to a head on 17th September when their claim was struck out for failing to comply with an Unless Order made by the Judge leaving only my Counterclaim to be heard on the day. The hearing was adjourned as although I had quantified the amount of claim I had not included a copy of the invoice so the Judge gave me 7 days in which to submit which I have complied with and a retrial date was set for 2nd November 2012. There solicitors have now applied for an Order under CPR Part 3.9 (1) granting the claimant relief from sanctions and the claim be reinstated because failure to comply with the unless order was not intentional. The court has granted relief from the sanction imposed and reinstates the claim by order dated 17th October 2012 at a "Without Notice of Hearing" the original hearing date for my counterclaim of 2nd November 2012 is vacated and a new date for trial of both claim and counterclaim is on 10th December 2012. Both parties must now comply with with the original order dated 16th July 2012 by 26th November2012 although I had already complied with the original deadline of 17th August 2012. The Order does state that "This order has been made without a hearing under Civil Procedure Rule 23. You may apply to have this order set aside or varied within 7 days of service of this order under Rule 10 of the Civil Procedure Rule Part 23 My question is would it be worth trying to set this order aside as these solicitors seem to be able to make a complete mockery of the Unless rules just be admitting that they where completely incompetent in failing to act by the time limits imposed by the judge. Please could I have some quick responses as the time is ticking on my 7 days

Hi I am asking for advice please. My husband who has worked at a company for 5 years is facing disciplinary hearing on Monday (I have been allowed to be his companion at this hearing as he is disabled). He had an exemplary work record up til 2 weeks ago and is due to retire in January. He felt he needed to bring a grievance against a colleague and attended a meeting with his line manager for an informal chat about this. His line manager came to the meeting with the HR person and together they bombarded/interrogated him about his grievance. Can i say at this point he had not slept for the previous couple of nights due to serious health issues. He did tell them he felt unwell and was indeed asked if he would like to adjourn the meeting. He declined that offer as he wasn't going to feel any better anytime soon. The interrogation continued and he flipped. He didnt swear or direct his anger towards anything personal but shouted No, No, No and banged his fist on the table. His line manager immediately burst into tears and left the room and in fact left the building for the day. Fact finding statements have been taken and a disciplinary hearing is arranged as I said for Monday. What i would like to know is does this constitute gross misconduct and would be a sackable offence?

hi To cut a very long story short An estate management company [removed] through JB Leitch are taking my 70 year old parents to court Thursday over withheld service charges and an external gas boiler pipe that they didn't install that is apparently "maiming the building" The pipe was installed 3 years prior to them moving into the flats by the previous owners. My parents have proof of this and put this in the defence. Leitch then wanted to change their claim to include the fact that it was installed by my parents and / or the previous owners. Not that it makes any difference in my eyes as they didn't do it, the previous owners weren't taken to court over the issue and nowhere in the lease does it say they inherited the problem. my parents are quite happy to go to court as they feel they have a very good case and they feel wronged. The stress this has caused them is great. Whilst waiting for the hearing Leitch haven't left them alone continually sending them continually what I consider to be scare letters aimed at getting them to back down rather than see it out at the hearing. The latest sent 6 days before the hearing claiming their "fees" are now at just over £5000. My parents have ignored all their letters because as I say they dont mind defending and that's what they are going to do. My question is do JB Leitch often even not turn up ? My impression reading about Leitch are that they are a glorified debt collection solicitor aimed at scaring the unknowing into paying ridiculous fees. Do they have much history of going through with it to small claims hearing stage ? If they were that confident of winning surely they would just come to court rather than send threatogram letters all the way up to the week of the hearing ? Any advice welcome Apologies this is probably posted in the wrong place ...

10,098 in arrears on a 35k mortgage. It's my parents mortgage, they've had a warrant for possession. They offered Santander 18 days ago a proposal, they look 14 days before they acknowledged it and I went higher. Eventually they turned it down because of constant promises to pay missed payments etc. They've left us with 5 days to find a solicitor 2 of which are the weekend. My dad has been off sick for q considerable amount of time, meaning they only had my mothers state pension coming in. He was tired and signed off tests revealed immune thrombocytopenia. He's still on medication but can go back to work. Myself and my partner have moved in and will be paying £370 towards the mortgage. We have offered £2500 down payment, £750 a month on the arrears and the contractual payment each month. I can prove we can afford this, not only that we should be able to clear the arr are in October from money in their Greek bank account. I've explained this in the application. However the stress has recently caused me to miscarry and I'm terrified. They've already had one cancelled by Eversheds and I'm worried the judge will jus flick it out straight away. My dad has appointments with the haematology department on Tuesday and can't attend my Mother has anxiety disorders and can't either. If I contact the court do you think I could attend as a litigation friend? Also I would like some realistic thoughts on the outcome of this, if it's highly likely he's going to throw my case out 2 days before the actual eviction date id like to know now. I did say on the end of the application if not possible to suspend please allow time to find alternative. We have two children under two living here.

Hello Everyone, I had few hundred pounds stuff ordered from shop direct in 2013 . I didnt like the stuff and sent it back , I got email confirmation that shop direct will refund in my account which they never did . I have more then 25 emails which I sent them and their replies that they have received the goods back and they will credit the account they never did. Three years later I got latter from Lowell demanding £3182 and its going higher day by day. I requested CCA AND CPR on 11/12/15 . I requested , 1. Agreement / Contact 2. Default Notice 3. Assignment 4. Formal Demand But instead I received the Lowell made documents today which they will present in court. I have attached here. ( PLEASE HELP i have never been to court and dont know what to do ? There are more documents here... Thank you Andy ..I haveattached court documents here. docs1a.pdf

Good evening everyone, I was on ESA for approximately 8 months due to a knee and back injury that I sustained late last year coupled with chronic migraines which have been diagnosed by a neurologist last year but have been suffering with for over 2 years. I attended a assessment early this year and scores 0 points and was told that I am fit for work however I feel this is the wrong decision and my doctors agree that i am not fit for work I have been getting signed off continually since my back and knee injury and also provided letters from my doctors however the dwp didn't change their decision. I appealed and have been told my court date is at the start of September. I am petrified!! I suffer with anxiety, severe depression, have been suicidal and I don't go out alone as a result of my current health problems combined with the severe side affects I suffer with from the 8 different medications I take. My conditions have not improved since my appeal and have in fact gotten worse. I have no idea what to expect and am honestly petrified about attending the hearing, what can I expect? Does anyone have any advice? Are there any organisations who can help me with this hearing? What sort of questions will I be asked? Will there be a judge and jury etc? Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance

My landlord has submitted a claim and now I have a form for defense. I have been abused by the landlord over 4 years and last year I finally managed to have the council serve a notice for repairs which were done in the worst manner possible. I know the following: 1. I was never given details of my tenancy deposit being protected until now where I have seen them for the first time 4 years on. 2. The name on the claim form for the landlord is the wrong surname 3. The council requires a landlord to have a licence prior to submitting a section 21 and this was not done. 4. The court application for possession was made prior to the end of the fixed term of the assured shorthold which is June 29th and this was submitted on 26th May. 5. The second landlord (as there are two), does not reside at the address stated on the claim form. There are two boxes for two people and the second one is blank. What about issuing a counter claim for breach of contract under the Housing Act and Landlord and Tenant act for failing to carry out repairs once being notified in reasonable time for a period for 4 years? When would one submit this claim as a counter or is that done as an entirely separate matter in the courts? Shall post in 2 seconds.. uploading now here are the claim form pages Will make into a PDF. two secs Ok attached attachment.pdf

Many thanks in advance for all advice! The situation is as follows: In February this year, my brother informed me that he couldn't cope with dealing with his local council regarding his council tax arrears (he has been suffering from extensive serious health problems, which have also affected his mental capabilities). His problems regarding council tax initially began when a direct debit payment was refused. The council were asked to set up a new direct debit, but instead repeatedly tried to collect on the old one. Eventually, my brother contacted me to try and help. To this end, I contacted the council and explained the situation. I also enclosed relevant permission from my brother authorising me to deal with the matter on his behalf. Eventually, I received a reply (after a two-week wait) requesting further information and my suggestions regarding payment. I replied by email, giving further details of health problems and the opinion that, given the circumstances, he should be classed as a vulnerable person. I also proposed payments of £100/month to cover the arrears of £700, rising in April to £200/month, the extra £100 to pay towards his 2016/17 liability. He has been paying this amount regularly and has not missed a payment. No reply has been received from the council regarding my proposal, despite payments being made in anticipation of the offer being acceptable to them. Now my brother has informed me that the council have sent him a court summons for the entire sum plus costs for 2016/17, the liability order hearing to take place on 11/07/2016. He is obviously extremely upset by all this. I have submitted a SAR to the council in order to try to find out what has been happening. Should I (or could I) apply to the court for an adjournment, given the disputed outstanding sum and the ongoing SAR? Any advice very gratefully received! Many thanks, George.

The following story has been heavily reported in the media this week: A 20-year-old student has been fined a staggering £562 for a £2.20 journey after she was caught with the wrong ticket. Parys Lanlehin was caught using a return train ticket on the wrong day - and going in the wrong direction - on June 4, 2014. The University of Nottingham student was issued with a £20 penalty ticket on the Nottingham to Beeston train, but the court heard it was never paid. Lanlehin, of Walthamstow, London, then signed a declaration stating she was unaware of legal proceedings taking place in Nottingham at Stratford Magistrates Court. On Wednesday, the student was found guilty of boarding a train without a valid ticket after she failed to attend the case at Nottingham Magistrates Court. She was fined £220 with £300 prosecution costs and a £22 government surcharge. She was also ordered to pay the £20 penalty, which had been imposed when she was caught on the train. Magistrates gave Lanlehin two weeks to pay and issued a collection order, which could lead to bailiffs removing items from her home to cover the payment. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/29/university-student-forced-to-pay-562-for-220-train-journey-after/

Hi, I am new to this forum and new to legal terms and I am confused with what happened in court today. Someone please help me understand? Here is the story. I received an attachment of earnings order for a default judgement I knew nothing about. I enquired and found out that Lowell had applied to court a few months earlier and got the default judgement as I did not get any paperwork. Further, I had written them with CCA request but they never replied I thought that it is over and done with. I applied to local court to set aside the judgement with a witness statement and defence where I explained to court about their dirty tricks and made up evidence etc. I sent all of those documents to Lowell as well so that they could put their side of story in court. what I did not understand was that a day later, they wrote to me with a signed draft order accepting to set aside the default judgment, withdrawing their AoE order application, and paying me court fees, then asking the court for permission to reply to my defence I thought that was a trap I went to court the next day, where I thought that the case would have been heard and judge making a decision. that was not the case, and Lowell hired a local solicitor to put to court the things they said in their letter, judge said to me that was easy and struck out the judgement and AoE order, then set a date for next hearing. I am very confused have two questions; 1. Why the Lowell accepted to set aside judgement and AoE order? 2. Why the judge set another hearing to hear the case when he had already quashed the judgment? I hope someone could answer the above two question. Thanks