Tarmac Driveway done by Tom Diggins Stockport Driveways, judgment plus costs - ***WON***

[smithy49]

We recently had a tarmac drive installed by Tom Diggins of Stockport Driveways (also has other websites we have since found out).

They ran out of tarmac and did the job in two parts and its a mess, tarmac is already eroding. We had part paid and have refused to pay any more.

 

We have had a report done and it states all of the problems with the work, including that the wrong tarmac was used. It has been deemed not fit for purpose and needs to all come up and be re-done.

 

We sent a letter requesting a refund of what we had already paid and have just issued a letter before court action., he has until 11th April to respond. We initially sent the letters to an address that we thought he lived at with his Mum (the council confirmed it off the Electoral Roll) but we now have evidence that he moved in December 2020 to a house of his own. We hand delivered the paperwork last night to that address.

 

The original letters to his Mums address have been signed for by "Diggins" so we know they have been received by a family member, if not him directly. We are unsure whether this will stand legally though.  We also know the name and address of the other person he had working with him on the drive.

 

My questions are:

Would the court accept that we wrote to the correct address and would it go against us if we also wrote to the other lad that was working with him?

 

 

 

 

 

photos.pdf

[BankFodder]

You don't give us any information as to the value of your claim.

Also, you say that you have had a report done. Has there been an assessment of the cost of putting the driveway into the position that it should have been if the job had been properly completed? This includes removing the existing tarmac – if necessary and replacing it. Or else, making good the poor workmanship on the tarmac which has just been laid.

You say that you have made a partial payment but there is money outstanding. You need to give us more details about this. Is Tom Diggins chasing you for that money? Has he written to you?

On the basis of what you say, you have a very excellent chance of success. However, it seems to me that you haven't really properly assess the value of your claim – and also, as you don't really know where he lives or what assets he has, you may have difficulty, first of all commencing the claim – and secondly enforcing a judgement.

It's a bit worrying that you have leapt into action with an issue day apparently of 11 April – and yet you really aren't sure of the steps you are going to take and some of the most essential aspects of bringing a legal action against anyone.

If there is any question over his address, then this could affect the issue of the claim right from the beginning.

If you have only just served your letter of claim on his new address, then the 14 days minimum notice period for a legal action certainly won't expire by 11 April.

I think you should take a breath and give us more information and be prepared to get everything in order before you proceed.

 

[smithy49]

Quote

 

Thank you for your reply.

We have paid him £3186 in total and there is £3000 outstanding which we have not paid him. . We have had 4 quotes to put the work right, as in rip everything up and start again and this will cost us a further £5000. 

We tried to resolve it amicably by email initially by pointing out the faults but he insisted it was a "quality" job. He wrote a letter (and I use the word letter in the loosest of terms as it was more of a note) to say we owed him £3200 plus £100 for a sign he put up on the pavement outside our house which he says  went missing.

We wrote to him, recorded delivery, at the address where we know he was living with his mum (we have a mutual friend). It was signed for by "Diggins" and he is Tom Diggins. We quoted the Consumer Rights Act and referred to the report we have stating its not fit for purpose and requested he pay back the £3186.00, we have him 14 days to respond and he didnt. We then issued a letter before court action to the same address and gave him 14 days to respond which takes him to 11th April. This was also signed for by Diggins. We enclosed photos and advised him of the eviidence we would be submitting with our court application.

We found out on Saturday, just by chance, that he may have bought a property in December and might be living there now. We drove past and saw his car outside the property. On Saturday, We hand delivered copies of both letters and copies of the Royal Mail signed for confirmations at his Mums address. I can get confirmation of where he is living from my friend but he has used this new address on one of his new "business" adverts. We are hoping he has actually bought this property as it gives us a better chance of getting our money back should it come down to sending the bailiffs in.

We have everything in order ready to submit a court application, including emails denying the work is unsatisfactory, refusal to bring in an independent person to assess the work while we both attend,  screenshots of all his websites, fake reviews, fake addresses on websites etc.

 

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

We have paid him £3186 in total and there is £3000 outstanding which we have not paid him. .

We have had 4 quotes to put the work right, as in rip everything up and start again and this will cost us a further £5000. 

 

We tried to resolve it amicably by email initially by pointing out the faults but he insisted it was a "quality" job. He wrote a letter (and I use the word letter in the loosest of terms as it was more of a note) to say we owed him £3200 plus £100 for a sign he put up on the pavement outside our house which he says  went missing.

 

We wrote to him, recorded delivery, at the address where we know he was living with his mum (we have a mutual friend). It was signed for by "Diggins" and he is Tom Diggins.

We quoted the Consumer Rights Act and referred to the report we have stating its not fit for purpose and requested he pay back the £3186.00, we have him 14 days to respond and he didnt.

 

We then issued a letter before court action to the same address and gave him 14 days to respond which takes him to 11th April.

This was also signed for by Diggins. We enclosed photos and advised him of the eviidence we would be submitting with our court application.

 

We found out on Saturday, just by chance, that he may have bought a property in December and might be living there now. We drove past and saw his car outside the property.

 

On Saturday, We hand delivered copies of both letters and copies of the Royal Mail signed for confirmations at his Mums address. I can get confirmation of where he is living from my friend but he has used this new address on one of his new "business" adverts. We are hoping he has actually bought this property as it gives us a better chance of getting our money back should it come down to sending the bailiffs in.

 

We have everything in order ready to submit a court application, including emails denying the work is unsatisfactory, refusal to bring in an independent person to assess the work while we both attend,  screenshots of all his websites, fake reviews, fake addresses on websites etc.

 

I should also add that the address we sent the initial letters to is where he is listed as living on the Electoral Roll and it is on one of his websites

Edited April 5, 2021 by BankFodder
Restructured in order to make it readable

[BankFodder]

Please note that I have restructured your rather long post to make it more accessible.

Firstly, on the basis of what you say, you should be suing him for the £5000 – not simply a refund of the money that you have already paid him.
Your objective is to produce a result where you have the surface that you paid for and that it hasn't cost you anything more than the price that you agreed to pay to Tom Diggins.

Whether you sue him for £5000 or £3000, the difficulties are all the same. You will win your case but you will have difficulty enforcing the judgement unless you prepare very carefully.

If you don't make the issue of enforcement an integral part of your litigation plan, then you will have obtained a judgement in your favour, but which will remain unpaid and will mean that you are also out-of-pocket in respect of the court fees that you will have paid.

If you sue him at his mother's address and obtain a judgement there and then later on he objects to the judgement on the basis that he didn't know about the action because you didn't communicate with him at the correct address, then he will apply for a set-aside to the judgement and he will probably succeed – and you will probably have to begin again and incur further fees – or amend your claim – and incur further fees.

I expect that you have familiarised yourself with the business of bringing a small claim in the County Court – but have you given attention to the problem of enforcement? Unless you are simply suing to assuage your anger or because you consider that it's a point of principle, then there is a real danger that you would walk away empty-handed and in fact worse off than you started.

Did you know that you can check the ownership of the property on the land registry website? There is a fee for this but it could be a good place to start

[smithy49]

Thank you very much for your help and advice on this.

 

I will look at the enforcement rules as we are suing with the view to getting our money back. We are also prepared to claim the extra costs but were told we would have to list these separately as "mitigating losses"?

 

We will definitely establish his real address before court action and I will check the Land Registry. thank you for bringing that to my attention

[BankFodder]

Who has told you that you need to list extra costs separately as "mitigating losses"?

I think you should stop completely.

I think you should ascertain his address. If he owns the new property then you should certainly be dealing with that address and you should send a new letter of claim to that address.

You should be suing to get the whole £5000. You can always reduce the amount you are seeking later on but you won't be able to increase it. The difficulties of enforcing £3000 or £5000 will be the same and when you do get a judgement – as you surely will – you shouldn't be instructing bailiffs, you should be instructing the sheriffs – High Court Enforcement Officers.

You are apparently receiving advice from elsewhere. Where?

[honeybee13]

Is it these people?

 

https://www.stockportpaving.co.uk/tarmac-driveways/

 

HB

[smithy49]

Yes, thats him. He also has other websites which I found by googling his mobile number and email.

 

Citizens Advice have been advising us on the process. I have just purchased the title deeds to the property we think he has bought and it has come back as him. 

[BankFodder]

Good.

Let me point out that this is exactly the kind of information that Citizens Advice should have given to you in the first place.

I don't want it to sound as if we are being territorial – but citizens advice are very worthy and no doubt they are good at some things – but I'm afraid that litigation against slippery defendants is not one of the things that they are good at.

I suggest that you take your advice from us because we are assertive and we will help you all the way.

As I've already suggested, now that you have discovered what his address is and that he owns the property – so that it amounts to an asset against which you can enforce judgement, you are in a much better position.

However, you should start again in order to make sure that you don't leave any weaknesses in your position which he could then fasten onto, for instance by claiming that you haven't certified the pre-action protocol.

You have talked about some "mitigating losses", what are these? What on earth was CA talking about when they refer to these? I can tell you that we have never heard of them.

[smithy49]

I would agree with you about CA. Your advice has helped us greatly already so thank you.

 

We want to give ourselves the strongest chance of winning this case so we are definitely prepared to go through the process slowly and surely to get it right. 

 

Do we need to enclose any evidence in the letter before court action?

[BankFodder]

I think it's reasonable to enclose copies of the report that you have had and the quotation. Does the quotation refer to making good or repairing or undoing his work and then re-establishing the surface? In other words is a quotation for the £5000?

[smithy49]

The report states that the whole job needs to be taken up and re-done and all the quotes we have say the same. Its not repairable.

 

The cheapest quote to do this this is £11000 which is £5000 more than the original work. We would need to claim £8186 to get back what we have paid already plus the extra to have it re-done

[BankFodder]

The whole objective to litigating on a contract is to come out with exactly what you expected to receive if the contract had been performed correctly.

He promised to resurface your drive for £6186. This means that at the end of a successful litigation, you should have the value of a resurface driveway and be out of pocket only to the tune of £6186 which is the price that you agree to pay Tom Diggins.

So in addition to recovering your £3186, you need to sue him for a further £5000 to pay for the damage which he has caused. Is this correct?

If this is right then I don't understand why you were only going to sue him for £3186 and potentially leave yourself out of pocket to the tune of £5000.

Also I've asked you twice now what is meant by "mitigating losses" and you haven't told me. Is there a reason for that?

 

[smithy49]

Initially, we just requested a refund of £3186 as that is what we had paid him. When he denied any wrongdoing and refused to refund, that is when we wrote to him and said we are going to claim the amount we have paid plus the costs to re-do the work, £3186 plus £5000.

 

Citizens advice mentioned "mitigating losses" to us. They said we should claim the amount we have paid him and list the extra as "mitigating losses" as a separate claim. Having taken on board your advice, we will now be simply claiming £8186. 

 

Do we need to offer alternative dispute resolution when we re-send the letter before claim? We did in our original letter

[BankFodder]

Post up your original letter of claim.

I'm not aware of any ADR process you could get into with him. Presumably he is not part of any professional body or scheme. In any event, that would just delay things and there is no way that he could be forced to pay if a decision was made against him.

The only thing to do is to take rapid court action. Don't hang around. You can indicate that you are prepared to go to mediation if you want – I don't really see a lot of point but I suppose it would be a good gesture at a time when courts resources are stretched. I can imagine that you should be prepared for him to counterclaim on the balance of the money that you agree to pay him.

You shouldn't worry about a counterclaim from him and in fact it would probably be good news because it would mean that he is engaging in litigation.

It may well be that he has got no assets to satisfy a debt of that size – but you could certainly put the sheriffs in any way. It won't cost you anything other than a £66 transfer up fee. You would have to pay £50 anyway to put the bailiffs in.

Ultimately you may need to put a charge on his property and although that won't get you your money back immediately, it will put some pressure on and at least reserve your position.

How old is this guy?

Maybe you could list out all his different business names and websites. That will at least help other people.

You should also start making sure that there are reviews on Google and trust pilot et cetera to reflect what is happening.

[smithy49]

I was relieved when I found out he had bought a property for the very reason that if he cant pay back some/all from his assets, at least a charge can be put against his property. 

 

He is 27/28 years old.

 

We have been reluctant to post any damning reviews in case it affected our court claim...as in, if he suggested we have a vendetta or are harrassing him. My plan was to post reviews once a judgment had been made but I am keen to get his name and business names out there.

 

He trades under:

Stockport Driveways

Driveways of Manchester

Resin Drives of Stockport

Stockport Paving

SK Fencing Solutions (this takes you to Driveways Stockport website, not fencing)

Wardrobe- The House Clearance Specialists

Manchester House Clearance

Stockport House Clearance

 

He uses different addresses on various advertising platforms, including that of his neighbours. I have screenshots of all of them

 

 

[BankFodder]

We are still waiting for you to post up your original letter of claim

[smithy49]

That will have to wait until tomorrow, its stored on my pc at work

[BankFodder]

Okay. If you can retrieve it tomorrow then it would be interesting to have it posted up here.

In the meantime, if you want to draft a new letter of claim and post it up here then we could start to work through it.

Presumably as you were expecting to issue the claim in the next six days, you have already registered on the County Court moneyclaim website and have started drafting your claim including producing a particulars of claim.

Please could you post that draft particulars of claim here as well

[smithy49]

We haven't registered on money claim yet but will get onto that. 

 

Below is the proposed new letter before action

 

[BankFodder]

The identifiers are fully visible underneath your redaction. I've deleted the file

[honeybee13]

There's a Thomas Christopher Diggins on the Companies House website as director of a scaffolding company and age 28. I don't know if an address in Bredbury means anything to you.

 

Quote

DIAL SCAFFOLDING LTD

DIAL SCAFFOLDING LTD
13296469

Created: 5 April 2021 18:18:52

Companies House does not verify the accuracy of the information filed

Overview

• Registered office address: 13 Cottage Gardens, Bredbury, Stockport, England, SK6 2BW
• Company type: Private limited company
• Incorporated on: 28 March 2021
• Status: Active

Key filing dates

• Accounting reference date: 31 March
• Next accounts due: 28 December 2022
• Next confirmation statement due: 10 April 2022

Nature of business (SIC)

• 43991 Scaffold erection

People

Officers:
2 officers / 0 resignations

• Director ARDEN, Lee Anthony ACTIVE
• Nationality: British
• Appointed: 28 March 2021
• Date of birth: May 1972
• Correspondence address: 3, College Close, Stockport, England, SK2 6TJ
• Country/State of Residence: England
• Occupation: Company Director

---

• Director DIGGINS, Thomas Christopher ACTIVE
• Nationality: British
• Appointed: 28 March 2021
• Date of birth: October 1992
• Correspondence address: 13, Cottage Gardens, Bredbury, Stockport, England, SK6 2BW
• Country/State of Residence: England
• Occupation: Company Director

---

Persons with significant control:

2 active person with significant control / 0 active statements

• Mr Lee Anthony Arden ACTIVE
• Correspondence address: 3, College Close, Stockport, England, SK2 6TJ
• Notified on: 28 March 2021
• Date of birth: May 1972
• Nationality: British
• Country of residence: England

Nature of control:

• Ownership of shares – More than 25% but not more than 50%
• Ownership of voting rights - More than 25% but not more than 50%

---

• Mr Thomas Christopher Diggins ACTIVE
• Correspondence address: 13, Cottage Gardens, Bredbury, Stockport, England, SK6 2BW
• Notified on: 28 March 2021
• Date of birth: October 1992
• Nationality: British
• Country of residence: England

Nature of control:

• Ownership of shares – More than 25% but not more than 50%
• Ownership of voting rights - More than 25% but not more than 50%

---

Recent Filing History

Recent Filing History

Date	Form	Description
28 Mar 2021	NEWINC	Incorporation Statement of capital on 2021-03-28 GBP 2 MODEL ARTICLES model-articles-adopted

 

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/zx-BxnOEyHq3_AORcQal_boElLQ/appointments

 

HB

[smithy49]

Yes thats him! Lee Ardern is engaged to his Mum. I see that he has set that up on 28th March 2021. Thanks for the info

 

SD leter before court action V2.docx

[BankFodder]

 

 

Quote

                                                                                                            

 

                                                                                                                    5^th April 2021

Mr Tom Diggins

13 Cottage Gardens

Bredbury

Stockport

SK6 2BW

RE:  Installation of tarmac driveway at xxxxxxxxxxxx -  LETTER BEFORE COURT ACTION

Dear Tom,

We wrote to you on 29^th March 2021 at 3 College Close, Heaviley, Stockport, SK2 6TJ.

Since that date, we have obtained evidence that in December 2020 you purchased and are now living at 13 Cottage Gardens, Bredbury, SK6 2BW .

On Saturday 3^rd April 2021, we hand delivered copies of previous correspondence regarding this matter to 13 Cottage Gardens, Bredbury, SK6 2BW that had previously been signed for by “Diggins” at 3 College Close, Heaviley, SK2 6TJ.

For court purposes, we are re-issuing our letter before court action to you at your confirmed address and will extend the response date to Wednesday 14^th April 2021.

From you, we are claiming £8236.00, this being £3186.00 we have paid you to date and £5050.00, this being the additional amount it will cost to put right the work you have done.

If you do not agree with our claim, please send a detailed response by return, with any supporting documentation.

If you are a member of an ADR Scheme, please send the details.

We refer you to the Practice Direction on Pre-Court Action conduct under the Civil Procedure Rules, in particular to paragraph 13-16 which sets out the sanctions the court may impose if you fail to comply with the Practice Direction.

If we do not hear from you by Wednesday 14^th April 2021, we will begin court proceedings without further notice.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Faithfully

 

 

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

I think there is a lot of work to do.

Also, you should have registered with money claim online already and you should be well underway and your basic particulars of claim should have been drafted by now. If you want to do this – then you have to do it and not muck around

[smithy49]

Unfortunately, up until we found this site, we have been guided by Citizens Advice. I will start the money claim process today. Thank you