NCP towed my car from train car park for non payment of private parking tickets

[jpm321]

Done

 

Faxed and Posted

[DBC]

Case won by the OP:-

 

Back in September 2011, James Mayhook parked in a railway station car park, bought a ticket, and later his vehicle was towed away by NCP for alleged non-payment of previous tickets, some 30 in total. (He wasn’t the driver for all of these).

 

As usual, the Police were no help at all, “It’s a civil matter sir”.

 

NCP then sent JM a letter banning the vehicle from all NCP car parks, and claiming that they were within their rights to seize the vehicle as a remedy for trespass.

 

JM made a Court Claim against NCP, and applied for an Injunction against NCP and Nigel Fuller (the person who towed the car) requiring them to return it. This was granted, but only on payment of £650 security, pending NCP’s counterclaim for the outstanding tickets.

 

The first hearing was listed for August 2012, but because of the sums involved and the implications for the PPC industry, it was reallocated from Small Claims to the Multi-Track at the end of November.

 

After getting some advice from Tim Cary (the solicitor in the Watchdog video), JM managed to secure the services of Barrister Matthew Hodson under a CFA arrangement.

 

The case concluded today (Chelmsford County Court, case no. 1CM00569), and JM won his claim, and defeated NCP’s counterclaim. £2,800 awarded against NCP to JM by Recorder Lowe QC.

 

More details of the judgment when available.

[afcwben]

Good news

[lamma]

And inevitable in my opinion. Oh to have a window into the BPA forum, it must be 'interesting'.

[wobbly]

Brill

[firstclassx]

edit

[Seminole]

I would love to know whether NCP did counterclaim for the outstanding invoices. I would guess that they probably did.

 

If a private parking company can't win when there are 30 outstanding invoices, it suggests that they really don't have a leg to stand on.

[DBC]

I think that this is a clear case of TWOC by NCP and its agents. The police should follow this up. I know they will say it's a "civil matter", but it's not. In my opiniona crime was commited by taking the vehicle in lieu of a supposed "debt"

[tomtubby]

I have been watching this case from "the wings" and what an fantastic outcome. This is clearly a case of the "little man" taking on the "giant".

 

WELL DONE to everyone involved. When the Judgment is available please remember to update this thread.

[Old Snowy]

I would love to know whether NCP did counterclaim for the outstanding invoices. I would guess that they probably did.

 

If a private parking company can't win when there are 30 outstanding invoices, it suggests that they really don't have a leg to stand on.

NCP did counter claim for the outstanding charges. Their counter claim was dismissed.

[tomtubby]

When were DVLA made aware of this court case?

[jpm321]

Edit by honeybee13. Tomtubby has kindly retyped this in post #168.

 

To summarise my case Sep 2011 the StartI Return to NCP train station car park to find my car had been taken by Mr Nigel Barrington-Fuller T/A Endeavour Vehicle Services who was instructed by NCP to seize and store my car for non-payment of alleged debts which another driver had causedAfter several calls and emails to Mr Stuart Marchant who was the Car Park Manager and Mr NBF I was unable to convince them that I was not using the cars at the time the alleged PCCNs were issued, and they must pursue the Driver rather than the RK, they refused to listen even after me notifying then of my intention to seek an injunction and sue for damages.On September 23 2011 I locate Mr NBF's house which is not his registered business address or yard, and see my car in his front garden blocked in by another car, also I see other cars with NCP PCCNs attached to the windscreen, after confronting Mr NBF he refuses to release my car and informs me he is a Barrister and I have no legal right to my car back as its a LIEN, ***I arrived at his house with Female who dropped me at the end of the road and I walked to his house***, I also called the Police who said "it was a civil matter" and they did not attend Nov 2011After filing an application for an injunction hearing in late October, I get a date for the hearing of 4th November 2011, I turn up on my own and NCP send a Barrister, I successfully get the injunction but am told by the court to pay a sum of £650 to the court as security.On the 11th Nov I picked my car up from Mr NBFDuring Nov 2011 I make NCP an offer to settle for £2000 but they refuse and counter offer which meant them keeping my £650 which I gave to the court and we both walk away I refuse this , there is one more offer of drop hands, again I refuse, both offers Including a confidentiality agreement January 2012 first hearing at Chelmsford CC me alone NCP Send same Barrister, hearing is for an application for NCP to issue a counterclaim for the outstanding PCCN's totalling £2700, the application is grantedFebruary 2012 another hearing which allocates case to the small claims track again Barrister turns up for this oneMarch 2012 There is a further hearing when we both agree to try mediation again I represent myself and NCP send same BarristerApril 2012 mediation fails I make other offers to settle, which are ignored Not much happens now until August 3rd at the final hearing in the small claims August 3rd 2012, turn up at court expecting the final outcome but the Judge decides that the case is to big for the small claims track due to amount of evidence both law and Factual and the possible implications for NCP if im proved right, therefore re allocates the case to the Multi-Track which exposes me to NCP costs should I lose. NCP send me a cost schedule for approx. £35000 for the case so farOf course at this point im seriously worrying about my potential exposure to their costs although you can't normally claim costs in the small claims track there could have been a risk of the judge awarding NCP there costs from Small claims although low risk it was still there in my mind.I then had to make a decision on whether to throw in the towel or seek legal representation. So I decided the fight on and contacted Mathew Hodson a Barrister from London I approached him with the idea of taking my case on under a CFA, he came back to me and explained that the case was pretty strong and on that basis accepted the CFA, he then contacted Andrew King of Lennons Solicitors to instruct him and take over the running of the case again under a CFAThis gave me some relief as now I had the benefit of legal representation and they then arranged some ATE insurance which put my mind at rest and gave me the determination to fight on.Once NCPs legal team got notice of my representation they made a couple of offers first was for £500 in full settlement Including a confidentiality agreement which didn’t include costs the second was for £1000 Including a confidentiality agreement again without costs these were both refused.A counter offer was put to them to give me £2000 and pay my costs the didn’t reply UNTIL the Friday before the Hearing planned for Tuesday , the accepted the offer added a confidentiality agreement and said the paper work would be with my Solicitor on Monday, so we all assumed the hearing was off and I was relieved however there was some disappointment as I did want to beat them in the court and so did my legal team. So Monday the day before the hearing 2pm no sign of the paper work, my solicitor contacts NCP solicitor to ask for an update and was told "its coming " at around 4pm on the day before the hearing the paper work was finally received. However there is one slight problem MR NBF is not part of the settlement agreement he still wants his day in Court, so we have a dilemma NCP are out of the hearing , have the confidentiality agreement and Mr NBF continues the fight but where are the Costs ? had my solicitor not seen the amendment then we may not of attended the hearing and Mr NBF would have. There were many permutation on what was going on, so we decided at 6pm on Monday night to refuse the offer and attend the hearing the next day , as this was a trick that failedDay 1 of the hearing I was questioned mainly on my damages claim not much on the facts Mr NBF was asked about his lack of VOSA licence and still claimed the recovery exemption, we discussed this and decided the Judge would probably be happy if we dropped this as we would spend to much time trying to prove him wrong and lose time on the main case, this turned out to please the judgeMr NBF when questioned about my car in his garden told the court that "I turned up with 3 big blokes" when I was on my own !He also provided a witness statement which included many photos of my house which included a communal car park and tried to tell the court all my neighbours cars were mine and my damages claim was rubbish as I had other cars to use, this of course fell on its ar$eDay 2 was spent discussing the Law and then Facts with both Barristers giving their submissions Day 3 was Judgement day , Judge spent nearly 3 hours giving his judgement in which he criticised me for not giving the other drivers details at the beginning of the saga, but then it was explained to him that I was a litigant in person and from day one NCP threw Arthurs Vs Anker at me and Mr NBF claimed he was a Barrister, also quoting the law and telling me I didn’t have a leg to stand on therefore was distracted from normal resolution.There was evidence that I did give NCP the drivers details but this was missed and brought to the Judges attention during the costs hearing The main thing that was mentioned was that NCP legal team never once asked who the driver was.The fact that they also never replied to my offers to settle or further mediation didn’t go down wellAlthough the Judge wasn’t convinced with the VCS, VOSA and Penalties part of my case he judged on the Agency clause and that the T&C were unfair under the Unfair Terms in consumer contracts regs although the penalties bit could have been argued it was not neededThe Judge wasn’t too pleased with the stunt that was attempted on the day before the hearing and did confirm that had anyone had of turned up after the settlement was agreed the case would have been thrown out, but that was a risk we were not going to takeso now we are working on the actual costs which they have to payDuring the last year I made several complaints and a certain authority called the term "Ridiculous" and ordered NCP to remove the Agency clause from 600 notice boards nationwide , its Website and any reference to such clause NCP reacted pretty quickly and did as they were told instantly by covering the term in duct tape on all its notice boards, then came new notice boardsearly in the court hearing the Judge said "If the claimant fails to to win this case then this is a victory on its own " So after 14 months of this I don’t know what im going to do with my spare time

[jpm321]

sorry for the formating of the text , dont know what went wrong there

[Binary1]

Wow! Good on you for sticking with it & fighting your corner:boxing:. It beggars belief how that bloke 'Nigel' claiming to be a 'barrister' didnt get his knuckles severely wrapped!

What sort of 'barrister' is he that goes around nicking the publics cars and 'hiding' them in his garden. If he's a barrister, then I'm the Popes daughter !. I hope you get to wipe the floor with this toe-rag. Its refreshing to see the 'little man' comes out on top if he has the strength to challenge these parasites. Good on you. Best wishes. B1

[sailor sam]

Sorry but your's going to have to edit that. Nobody is going to try and read it as it is.

[Binary1]

Sorry but your's going to have to edit that. Nobody is going to try and read it as it is.

 

 

I read it! No problem

[sailor sam]

I read it! No problem

 

You've obviously got more time on your hands than I have then.

[tomtubby]

JPM 321.

I hope that you do not mind, but I have re-typed your post and have made some minor adjustments to make the case easier to understand:

To summarise my case

 

Sep 2011 the Start

 

I return to NCP train station car park to find my car had been taken by Mr Nigel Barrington-Fuller T/A Endeavour Vehicle Services who was instructed by NCP to seize and store my car for non-payment of alleged debts which another driver had caused.

 

After several calls and emails to Mr Stuart Marchant who was the Car Park Manager and Mr NBF I was unable to convince them that I was not using the cars at the time the alleged PCCNs were issued, and they must pursue the Driver rather than the RK. They refused to listen even after notifying them of my intention to seek an injunction and sue for damages.

 

On September 23 2011 I locate Mr NBF's house which is not his registered business address or yard, and see my car in his front garden blocked in by another car. I also see other cars with NCP PCCNs attached to the windscreen. After confronting Mr NBF he refuses to release my car and informs me he is a Barrister and that I have no legal right to my car back as it’s a LIEN.

 

 

I arrived at his house with Female who dropped me at the end of the road and I walked to his house***, I also called the Police who said "it was a civil matter" and they did not attend

 

Nov 2011

After filing an application for an injunction hearing in late October, I get a date for the hearing of 4th November 2011. I turn up on my own. NCP send a Barrister. I successfully get the injunction but am told by the court to pay a sum of £650 into court “as security”

 

On the 11th Nov I picked my car up from Mr NBF.

 

During Nov 2011 I make NCP an offer to settle for £2000 but they refuse and counter offer which meant them keeping my £650 which I gave to the court and we both walk away. I refuse this. There is one more offer of drop hands. Again I refuse. Both offers include a confidentiality agreement

 

January 2012: first hearing at Chelmsford CC. I am alone and NCP send a Barrister. The hearing is for an application for NCP to issue a counterclaim for the outstanding PCCN's totalling £2700.The application is granted

 

February 2012 and another hearing which allocates the case to the small claims track. The Barrister for NCP turned up.

 

March 2012. There is a further hearing when we both agree to try mediation. I represent myself and NCP send the same Barrister

 

April 2012 mediation fails. I make other offers to settle which are ignored

 

Not much happens now until August 3rd at the final hearing in the small claims.

 

August 3rd 2012:

Turn up at court expecting the final outcome but the Judge decides that the case is too big for the small claims track due to the amount of evidence both law and factual and the possible implications for NCP if I am proved right. Therefore, the case is re allocated to the Multi-Track. This exposes me to NCP costs should I lose. NCP send me a cost schedule for approx. £35,000.

 

Of course at this point I am seriously worried about my potential exposure to their costs. Although you cannot normally claim costs in the small claims track there could have been a risk of the judge awarding NCP their costs from Small claims although low risk, it was still there in my mind.

 

I then had to make a decision on whether to throw in the towel or to seek legal representation. I decided the fight on and contacted Mathew Hodson; a Barrister from London. I approached him with the idea of taking my case on under a CFA. He came back to me and explained that the case was pretty strong and on that basis, accepted the CFA. He then contacted Andrew King of Lennons Solicitors to instruct him to take over the running of the case under a CFA.

 

This gave me some relief as now; I had the benefit of legal representation and they then arranged some ATE insurance which put my mind at rest and gave me the determination to fight on.

 

Once NCPs legal team got notice of my representation, they made a couple of offers. First was for £500 in full settlement including a “confidentiality agreement” which did not include costs. The second offer was for £1000 including a confidentiality agreement without costs. Both offers were refused.

 

A counter offer was put to them to give me £2000 and pay my costs. They did not reply until the Friday before the hearing (which was set for Tuesday). They accepted the offer added a confidentiality agreement and said the paper work would be with my Solicitor on Monday. We all assumed that the hearing was off and I was relieved. However there was some disappointment as I did want to beat them in the court and so did my legal team.

 

 

So Monday (the day before the hearing) by 2pm there was no sign of the paper work. My solicitor contacts NCP solicitor to ask for an update and was told "its coming ". At around 4pm on the day before the hearing, the paper work was finally received. However there is one slight problem Mr NBF is not part of the settlement agreement. He still wants his day in Court. We have a dilemma. NCP are out of the hearing....and have the confidentiality agreement and Mr NBF continues the fight but; where are the costs??? Had my solicitor not seen the amendment, then we may not have attended the hearing and Mr NBF would have.

 

There were many permutations on what was going on. As this was a trick that failed we decided at 6pm on Monday night to refuse the offer and attend the hearing the next day.

 

Day 1 of the hearing

I was questioned mainly on my damages claim not much on the facts.

Mr NBF was asked about his lack of VOSA licence and still claimed the recovery exemption. We discussed this and decided the Judge would probably be happy if we dropped this as we would spend too much time trying to prove him wrong and lose time on the main case. This turned out to please the judge.

 

Mr NBF when questioned about my car in his garden told the court that "I turned up with 3 big blokes" This was incorrect....when I was on my own!! He also provided a “witness statement” which included many photos of my house which included a communal car park and he tried to tell the court that all my neighbours’ cars were mine and that my damages claim was rubbish as I had other cars that I could use. This of course fell on its ar$e

 

 

Day 2

This was spent discussing the law and facts with both Barristers giving their submissions.

 

Day 3 was Judgement day. The Circuit Judge spent nearly 3 hours giving his judgement. He criticised me for not giving the other driver’s details at the beginning of the saga. It was then explained to him that I was a litigant in person and that from day one, NCP had referred to Arthurs v Anker and that Mr NBF claimed he was a Barrister, and quoted the law and telling me I that didn’t have a leg to stand on. I was therefore distracted from normal resolution.

 

 

There was evidence that I did in fact give NCP the driver’s details but this was missed and was brought to the Judges attention during the costs hearing.

 

 

The main thing that was mentioned was that NCP’s legal team never once asked who the driver was.

The fact that they also never replied to my offers to settle or further mediation didn’t go down well

 

Although the Judge wasn’t convinced with the VCS, VOSA and Penalties part of my case he judged on the Agency clause and that the T&C were unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. Although the penalties bit could have been argued.....it was not needed.

 

The Judge was not pleased with the “stunt” that was attempted on the day before the hearing. He confirmed that if anyone had of turned up after the settlement was agreed, the case would have been thrown out. This was a risk we were not going to take.

 

So now we are working on the actual costs which they have to pay.

 

So after 14 months of this I don’t know what I’m going to do with my spare time.....

[honeybee13]

Thank you tomtubby, I was about to do that. I will though edit the original post to say that your version is further down the page.

 

My best, HB

[DBC]

I bet "Nigel"actually works at Starbucks and is barista.

[tomtubby]

Crumbs...I have just spent 15 mins doing "Google" searches for Endeavour Vehicle Imports Ltd !!! They were incorporated at Companies House in July 2009 and so far, have NEVER PUBLISHED ACCOUNTS and last week, a "First Gazette" notification was listed to advise that an application has been made to have the company "struck off" of Companies House. Cannot find a registration listed with the Information Commissioners Office !!!

 

However.....the Information Commissioners Office have a NEW registration for another company by the name of: Endeavour Vehicle Service. This is run from Clacton in Essex and the person behind the business is Mr Adrian FULLER.

 

 

 

Any connection ????

[Binary1]

JPM 321.

I hope that you do not mind, but I have re-typed your post and have made some minor adjustments to make the case easier to understand:

To summarise my case

 

Sep 2011 the Start

 

I return to NCP train station car park to find my car had been taken by Mr Nigel Barrington-Fuller T/A Endeavour Vehicle Services who was instructed by NCP to seize and store my car for non-payment of alleged debts which another driver had caused.

 

After several calls and emails to Mr Stuart Marchant who was the Car Park Manager and Mr NBF I was unable to convince them that I was not using the cars at the time the alleged PCCNs were issued, and they must pursue the Driver rather than the RK. They refused to listen even after notifying them of my intention to seek an injunction and sue for damages.

 

On September 23 2011 I locate Mr NBF's house which is not his registered business address or yard, and see my car in his front garden blocked in by another car. I also see other cars with NCP PCCNs attached to the windscreen. After confronting Mr NBF he refuses to release my car and informs me he is a Barrister and that I have no legal right to my car back as it’s a LIEN.

 

 

I arrived at his house with Female who dropped me at the end of the road and I walked to his house***, I also called the Police who said "it was a civil matter" and they did not attend

 

Nov 2011

After filing an application for an injunction hearing in late October, I get a date for the hearing of 4th November 2011. I turn up on my own. NCP send a Barrister. I successfully get the injunction but am told by the court to pay a sum of £650 into court “as security”

 

On the 11th Nov I picked my car up from Mr NBF.

 

During Nov 2011 I make NCP an offer to settle for £2000 but they refuse and counter offer which meant them keeping my £650 which I gave to the court and we both walk away. I refuse this. There is one more offer of drop hands. Again I refuse. Both offers include a confidentiality agreement

 

January 2012: first hearing at Chelmsford CC. I am alone and NCP send a Barrister. The hearing is for an application for NCP to issue a counterclaim for the outstanding PCCN's totalling £2700.The application is granted

 

February 2012 and another hearing which allocates the case to the small claims track. The Barrister for NCP turned up.

 

March 2012. There is a further hearing when we both agree to try mediation. I represent myself and NCP send the same Barrister

 

April 2012 mediation fails. I make other offers to settle which are ignored

 

Not much happens now until August 3rd at the final hearing in the small claims.

 

August 3rd 2012:

Turn up at court expecting the final outcome but the Judge decides that the case is too big for the small claims track due to the amount of evidence both law and factual and the possible implications for NCP if I am proved right. Therefore, the case is re allocated to the Multi-Track. This exposes me to NCP costs should I lose. NCP send me a cost schedule for approx. £35,000.

 

Of course at this point I am seriously worried about my potential exposure to their costs. Although you cannot normally claim costs in the small claims track there could have been a risk of the judge awarding NCP their costs from Small claims although low risk, it was still there in my mind.

 

I then had to make a decision on whether to throw in the towel or to seek legal representation. I decided the fight on and contacted Mathew Hodson; a Barrister from London. I approached him with the idea of taking my case on under a CFA. He came back to me and explained that the case was pretty strong and on that basis, accepted the CFA. He then contacted Andrew King of Lennons Solicitors to instruct him to take over the running of the case under a CFA.

 

This gave me some relief as now; I had the benefit of legal representation and they then arranged some ATE insurance which put my mind at rest and gave me the determination to fight on.

 

Once NCPs legal team got notice of my representation, they made a couple of offers. First was for £500 in full settlement including a “confidentiality agreement” which did not include costs. The second offer was for £1000 including a confidentiality agreement without costs. Both offers were refused.

 

A counter offer was put to them to give me £2000 and pay my costs. They did not reply until the Friday before the hearing (which was set for Tuesday). They accepted the offer added a confidentiality agreement and said the paper work would be with my Solicitor on Monday. We all assumed that the hearing was off and I was relieved. However there was some disappointment as I did want to beat them in the court and so did my legal team.

 

 

So Monday (the day before the hearing) by 2pm there was no sign of the paper work. My solicitor contacts NCP solicitor to ask for an update and was told "its coming ". At around 4pm on the day before the hearing, the paper work was finally received. However there is one slight problem Mr NBF is not part of the settlement agreement. He still wants his day in Court. We have a dilemma. NCP are out of the hearing....and have the confidentiality agreement and Mr NBF continues the fight but; where are the costs??? Had my solicitor not seen the amendment, then we may not have attended the hearing and Mr NBF would have.

 

There were many permutations on what was going on. As this was a trick that failed we decided at 6pm on Monday night to refuse the offer and attend the hearing the next day.

 

Day 1 of the hearing

I was questioned mainly on my damages claim not much on the facts.

Mr NBF was asked about his lack of VOSA licence and still claimed the recovery exemption. We discussed this and decided the Judge would probably be happy if we dropped this as we would spend too much time trying to prove him wrong and lose time on the main case. This turned out to please the judge.

 

Mr NBF when questioned about my car in his garden told the court that "I turned up with 3 big blokes" This was incorrect....when I was on my own!! He also provided a “witness statement” which included many photos of my house which included a communal car park and he tried to tell the court that all my neighbours’ cars were mine and that my damages claim was rubbish as I had other cars that I could use. This of course fell on its ar$e

 

 

Day 2

This was spent discussing the law and facts with both Barristers giving their submissions.

 

Day 3 was Judgement day. The Circuit Judge spent nearly 3 hours giving his judgement. He criticised me for not giving the other driver’s details at the beginning of the saga. It was then explained to him that I was a litigant in person and that from day one, NCP had referred to Arthurs v Anker and that Mr NBF claimed he was a Barrister, and quoted the law and telling me I that didn’t have a leg to stand on. I was therefore distracted from normal resolution.

 

 

There was evidence that I did in fact give NCP the driver’s details but this was missed and was brought to the Judges attention during the costs hearing.

 

 

The main thing that was mentioned was that NCP’s legal team never once asked who the driver was.

The fact that they also never replied to my offers to settle or further mediation didn’t go down well

 

Although the Judge wasn’t convinced with the VCS, VOSA and Penalties part of my case he judged on the Agency clause and that the T&C were unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. Although the penalties bit could have been argued.....it was not needed.

 

The Judge was not pleased with the “stunt” that was attempted on the day before the hearing. He confirmed that if anyone had of turned up after the settlement was agreed, the case would have been thrown out. This was a risk we were not going to take.

 

So now we are working on the actual costs which they have to pay.

 

So after 14 months of this I don’t know what I’m going to do with my spare time.....

 

 

 

You've obviously had more time on your hands than Sailor Sam then. Ha ha !!

[jpm321]

Crumbs...I have just spent 15 mins doing "Google" searches for Endeavour Vehicle Imports Ltd !!! They were incorporated at Companies House in July 2009 and so far, have NEVER PUBLISHED ACCOUNTS and last week, a "First Gazette" notification was listed to advise that an application has been made to have the company "struck off" of Companies House. Cannot find a registration listed with the Information Commissioners Office !!!

 

However.....the Information Commissioners Office have a NEW registration for another company by the name of: Endeavour Vehicle Service. This is run from Clacton in Essex and the person behind the business is Mr Adrian FULLER.

 

 

 

Any connection ????

 

Yes its a family business,

[jpm321]

JPM 321.

 

I hope that you do not mind, but I have re-typed your post and have made some minor adjustments to make the case easier to understand:

 

 

 

 

 

To summarise my case

 

Sep 2011 the Start

 

I return to NCP train station car park to find my car had been taken by Mr Nigel Barrington-Fuller T/A Endeavour Vehicle Services who was instructed by NCP to seize and store my car for non-payment of alleged debts which another driver had caused.

 

After several calls and emails to Mr Stuart Marchant who was the Car Park Manager and Mr NBF I was unable to convince them that I was not using the cars at the time the alleged PCCNs were issued, and they must pursue the Driver rather than the RK. They refused to listen even after notifying them of my intention to seek an injunction and sue for damages.

 

On September 23 2011 I locate Mr NBF's house which is not his registered business address or yard, and see my car in his front garden blocked in by another car. I also see other cars with NCP PCCNs attached to the windscreen. After confronting Mr NBF he refuses to release my car and informs me he is a Barrister and that I have no legal right to my car back as it’s a LIEN.

 

 

I arrived at his house with Female who dropped me at the end of the road and I walked to his house***, I also called the Police who said "it was a civil matter" and they did not attend

 

Nov 2011

After filing an application for an injunction hearing in late October, I get a date for the hearing of 4th November 2011. I turn up on my own. NCP send a Barrister. I successfully get the injunction but am told by the court to pay a sum of £650 into court “as security”

 

On the 11th Nov I picked my car up from Mr NBF.

 

During Nov 2011 I make NCP an offer to settle for £2000 but they refuse and counter offer which meant them keeping my £650 which I gave to the court and we both walk away. I refuse this. There is one more offer of drop hands. Again I refuse. Both offers include a confidentiality agreement

 

January 2012: first hearing at Chelmsford CC. I am alone and NCP send a Barrister. The hearing is for an application for NCP to issue a counterclaim for the outstanding PCCN's totalling £2700.The application is granted

 

February 2012 and another hearing which allocates the case to the small claims track. The Barrister for NCP turned up.

 

March 2012. There is a further hearing when we both agree to try mediation. I represent myself and NCP send the same Barrister

 

April 2012 mediation fails. I make other offers to settle which are ignored

 

Not much happens now until August 3rd at the final hearing in the small claims.

 

August 3rd 2012:

Turn up at court expecting the final outcome but the Judge decides that the case is too big for the small claims track due to the amount of evidence both law and factual and the possible implications for NCP if I am proved right. Therefore, the case is re allocated to the Multi-Track. This exposes me to NCP costs should I lose. NCP send me a cost schedule for approx. £35,000.

 

Of course at this point I am seriously worried about my potential exposure to their costs. Although you cannot normally claim costs in the small claims track there could have been a risk of the judge awarding NCP their costs from Small claims although low risk, it was still there in my mind.

 

I then had to make a decision on whether to throw in the towel or to seek legal representation. I decided the fight on and contacted Mathew Hodson; a Barrister from London. I approached him with the idea of taking my case on under a CFA. He came back to me and explained that the case was pretty strong and on that basis, accepted the CFA. He then contacted Andrew King of Lennons Solicitors to instruct him to take over the running of the case under a CFA.

 

This gave me some relief as now; I had the benefit of legal representation and they then arranged some ATE insurance which put my mind at rest and gave me the determination to fight on.

 

Once NCPs legal team got notice of my representation, they made a couple of offers. First was for £500 in full settlement including a “confidentiality agreement” which did not include costs. The second offer was for £1000 including a confidentiality agreement without costs. Both offers were refused.

 

A counter offer was put to them to give me £2000 and pay my costs. They did not reply until the Friday before the hearing (which was set for Tuesday). They accepted the offer added a confidentiality agreement and said the paper work would be with my Solicitor on Monday. We all assumed that the hearing was off and I was relieved. However there was some disappointment as I did want to beat them in the court and so did my legal team.

 

 

So Monday (the day before the hearing) by 2pm there was no sign of the paper work. My solicitor contacts NCP solicitor to ask for an update and was told "its coming ". At around 4pm on the day before the hearing, the paper work was finally received. However there is one slight problem Mr NBF is not part of the settlement agreement. He still wants his day in Court. We have a dilemma. NCP are out of the hearing....and have the confidentiality agreement and Mr NBF continues the fight but; where are the costs??? Had my solicitor not seen the amendment, then we may not have attended the hearing and Mr NBF would have.

 

There were many permutations on what was going on. As this was a trick that failed we decided at 6pm on Monday night to refuse the offer and attend the hearing the next day.

 

Day 1 of the hearing

I was questioned mainly on my damages claim not much on the facts.

Mr NBF was asked about his lack of VOSA licence and still claimed the recovery exemption. We discussed this and decided the Judge would probably be happy if we dropped this as we would spend too much time trying to prove him wrong and lose time on the main case. This turned out to please the judge.

 

Mr NBF when questioned about my car in his garden told the court that "I turned up with 3 big blokes" This was incorrect....when I was on my own!! He also provided a “witness statement” which included many photos of my house which included a communal car park and he tried to tell the court that all my neighbours’ cars were mine and that my damages claim was rubbish as I had other cars that I could use. This of course fell on its ar$e

 

 

Day 2

This was spent discussing the law and facts with both Barristers giving their submissions.

 

Day 3 was Judgement day. The Circuit Judge spent nearly 3 hours giving his judgement. He criticised me for not giving the other driver’s details at the beginning of the saga. It was then explained to him that I was a litigant in person and that from day one, NCP had referred to Arthurs v Anker and that Mr NBF claimed he was a Barrister, and quoted the law and telling me I that didn’t have a leg to stand on. I was therefore distracted from normal resolution.

 

 

There was evidence that I did in fact give NCP the driver’s details but this was missed and was brought to the Judges attention during the costs hearing.

 

 

The main thing that was mentioned was that NCP’s legal team never once asked who the driver was.

The fact that they also never replied to my offers to settle or further mediation didn’t go down well

 

Although the Judge wasn’t convinced with the VCS, VOSA and Penalties part of my case he judged on the Agency clause and that the T&C were unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. Although the penalties bit could have been argued.....it was not needed.

 

The Judge was not pleased with the “stunt” that was attempted on the day before the hearing. He confirmed that if anyone had of turned up after the settlement was agreed, the case would have been thrown out. This was a risk we were not going to take.

 

So now we are working on the actual costs which they have to pay.

 

So after 14 months of this I don’t know what I’m going to do with my spare time.....

 

Many thanks for doing this , i wasnt able to find how to edit my original post