Did the Judge's order about the bundle being filed today make any mention of the Court fee? If not then write to the Court and request strike out for non-payment of the Court fee and breach of the earleir order. Whether it'll be granted is anyone's guess.

Haha yes it's tempting to think that. I was many moons ago, defending a PI claim where the Claimant sols put the wrong figure on the front of the Claim Form and hence paid the wrong Court fee. The Court ordered the Claimant to clarify the sums they're claiming and if different to the served claim form, pay any extra court fee, but put no penalty on the order. I gave the Court a ring two weeks later... nothing... Court said write in... 3 weeks later I write in... Court makes another order with no penalty for non compliance... I ring back a month later - nothing... write in to Court again... Court makes a 3rd order... (with the Court turnaround times we were then 8 months after the DQ was filed...)... Ring again - nothing, Court says I'll have to make an application if we want to Strike out... Court then makes a 4th Order with no penalty... and no less than 13 months later we finally get directions (meaning the Claimant eventually paid up). With your case though, there is a trial date. So if the non-compliance puts the trial date at risk the Court may issue an unless order. What's more likely to happen is that everyone will rock up at the hearing and you're in a situation where the Claimant hasn't served any witness evidence on the Defendant. What happens next depends on the calibre of Judge.... either they dismiss the Claim, they adjourn the hearing and award you costs, or they just give you time to read the Claimant's statements on the morning and crack on in the afternoon... No harm in emailing the Court tomorrow.

You simply can't give a precise figure for general damages. It's the nature of the beast. If the MIB tell you they're definitely only going to pay out £8k and they end up paying out £10k they've lost £2k... I don't think there's much you can do in terms of the vague figure for GD (£5.3k). If it's a bog standard 6 month neck shoulder back injury, that reserve seems high. If there's other issues (e.g. chronic pain, fractures, psychological issues) then the reserve may be on the low side.... Without the medical report you can't tell. Once the report is served, the MIB could ask questions of the medical expert if anything in there appears off. How long ago was the accident?

There's a good chance they'll try to enforce the debt - HCEO or (more likely) charging order against his own property.

Under what penalty? Automatic strike out?

I would suggest it's a matter for the Court, and nothing you need to kick them into doing.

So there's been Judgment but there's another hearing? Doesn't make sense. What is the hearing in March for exactly? I think you need to copy type word for word what the notice of hearing says...

Obviously the first step is to contact the Council, they will have a department for insurance claims and may ask you to complete a form. To make the claim against the Council, you'll have to prove they failed in their duty to maintain the highway (under the Highways Act). The Highways Act affords the Council a statutory defence that they took all reasonable steps to maintain the highway. They ought to have records of their routine inspections and reports of potholes from the general public. Did your daughter report the pothole to the Council after the incident? If not, and with this pothole being repaired a couple of days after, seems like they knew of it prior to your daughter's incident. As such the question to be determined if you are to be successful is how long did it take them to get round to repairing it, and was that time reasonable. I've defended such claims on behalf of Council's before, right through to trial. All the Council have to show is that they took all reasonable steps. Reasonable takes into account things from the amount of road (in miles) they have to maintain, their budget, their response time, the number of pothole reports they were dealing with, the priority of the road (i.e. a major road or a minor road). Some Councils will defend every claim where they think they're in the right (the argument is to stop a floodgate of claims coming in) and some will settle to save costs. A lot to think about but the first step is to notify the Council that you wish to make a claim.

I hired a Ford Focus estate from thrifty the other week and that cost me about £120 for the day. Enterprise are one of the more expensive companies out there for short term hiring. Have a search online to see if you can find cheaper (e.g. Budget, Thrifty) Alternatively (and this goes against every fibre of my being), OP if this isn't already sorted and you really need a car, maybe ask Enterprise if they will consider providing you with a vehicle on a credit hire basis... and find out what that would entail...

OP I think you're a little confused, but as Andy has said above they can't 'repossess your property'. I think you're beyond the point of defending the original Judgment (CCJ) - did you receive a claim form from the County Court? It was at that point you could have defended the Claim. And as for the Charging Order, you will have received a notice of interim charge, and then a Court Date for a final charging order hearing - did you go to this hearing?

Well that worked out nicely

Did they write to the Claimant, regarding their non-compliance? I mean with the best will in the world the postal system is not infallible. I've had documents go missing etc. The Claimant might well be under the impression all is fine, and it's been sent (as you know the Court have received it so the likelihood that they purposefully did not send it to the Defendant is low). Realistically, the only potential prejudice the Defendant could suffer at this stage is that the other side sees their witness statement and uses it to draft their own. But the other side's documents were with the court on 31st so that is unlikely to have happened. Obviously as you get closer to the trial, you have less time to examine the Claimant's evidence and less time to prepare things like questions/cross examination etc. With the trial in March, I think you would look very reasonable to the Judge hearing the case if you gave them an opportunity to send the documents to you. Then, if after this you still haven't received them, the Defendant will ask the Judge not to consider the Claimant's witness evidence as it hasn't been served in accordance with Paragraph 3© of the Directions order, and despite a further request to serve. If you write to Court asking for further directions, the Judge will likely order a new date for the Claimant to serve the documents (as they have been filed at Court). A Judge is unlikely to strike out the Claimant's witness evidence. They'll likely comply with this Order to serve again. Depending when the Judge gets round to looking at it, the trial date may be moved back to allow you time to consider the papers after the new date of service. So tactically, in my view the better option is to give them an opportunity to send it again. If they do within the time you set (give them till say 4pm Monday), you're not at a disadvantage. Failing this just raise it at Court and the Judge will deal how they sees fit. They may use their discretion to strike out the witness evidence, they may adjourn the hearing to another date, they may just let it slide and adjourn for an hour or so on the morning for you to go through it.

BFL are not named on the claim form (see post #3), therefore there is a question as to whether they are on the record with the Court at all. The question is who is conducting the litigation (that is the 'reserved legal activity') under the LSA 2007. The nursery is the Claimant and the nursery can ask whoever it wishes to assist with the litigation (as the OP is doing here). However if BFL are not on the record with the Court and will not be appearing at the final hearing to represent the Claimant (they have no right of audience anyway), then I don't think it will be deemed that they are 'conducting the litigation'. Maybe someone else's view will differ. OP, did you receive a Directions Questionnaire from the other side (Court Form N180)? If so, whose contact details are listed on the first page? BFL or the nursery?

Carry on as you were but I think the CAB were right. CPR 47.7 says you have 3 months from the date of the order awarding costs (presumably to be assessed if not agreed), to serve the N252 and start the detailed assessment procedure. The 6 year limitation period would start when the figure for costs is determined. Part 28 of the Family Procedure Rules applies CPR 47 to family proceedings as well, so I think that CPR rule with the time limit applies to your award for costs. The Courts do give some leeway but it has been 2 years (albeit with some extenuating circumstances)... Fully expect the other side dispute all your costs on the basis you haven't served the N252 in time. I think you have a decent enough argument as a litigant in person to say that you should still be afforded considerable leeway on claiming costs as your solicitors went bump and you reasonably thought the costs would be assessed on conclusion of the financial dispute resolution (and any other reasons you can throw in for not doing it in the 3 months).

And regarding the Claimant's evidence, the trial is in March. I would suggest writing to the Claimant first (ideally by email) and asking them to send their witness statement and documents as you have not received this (and therefore they have breached the Court order? - is that correct?). Tell them you'll give them till the end of the week to email these across, after which you will be writing to the Court. What does the Directions Order say word for word about exchanging witness statements? Usually it'll say something like the parties will send to each other and to the Court, all documents upon which they wish to rely, on a specified date. Then it'll go on to say those documents should include witness statements. And then something about if a witness statement isn't served in accordance with the order, the witness may not be permitted to give oral evidence in Court. The last bit is crucial. So if you don't get them from the other side by the end of the week, write to the Court, but I personally wouldn't request further directions. I would just inform the Court that the Claimant has not served its witness evidence on the Defendant and that they have breached the Court order, and should not be permitted to give oral evidence. And send a copy of that to the Claimant. If you ask the Court to make further directions (which would presumably give them a new deadline to send you the statements/documents), you're just giving the Claimant a free pass on breaching the Court order. That's my view at least.

Claim what you want. When it comes to costs, if you don't ask you don't get. All you can do is submit a schedule (the best format is Court Form N260), make sure you send it to the other side and to the Court no less than 3 days before the hearing. But bear in mind this is on the small claims track, so ordinarily as the Defendant no costs will be awarded to you even if you're successful, unless you can show the Claimant's conduct was unreasonable during the litigation. Even then it's heavily at the discretion of the Judge. So have they been unreasonable in any way? If you win, the Defendant is usually able to recover reasonable travel expenses or loss of earnings for attending the hearing. My suggestion - ask but don't expect to receive anything.

Yea renewed just over a year ago for another 2 year stint (mainly for the new phone - worked out cheaper after the freebies they threw in). I assumed the poor reception was due to all the construction work going on around here. The reception got much worse in early 2016 when they started pulling down down a big 20+ floor building. So I assumed there was a mast on top and it would eventually be replaced elsewhere. But clearly I was wrong. I get decent reception at home and generally when I'm out and about I don't tend to find places where I struggle. Just sods law that the one place where I spend a significant amount of time is the one where I do struggle to get signal! But thanks for the plusnet tip, will keep that in mind.

I sympathise. I've had poor O2 signal (indoors and outdoors, 1 bar out of 4, and only 3G) in central Birmingham where I work (and therefore spend the majority of the week) for about 3 years. I'm aware of three of my colleagues on O2 who have the same issues. Don't expect a substantive response from them. I complained only to be told something along the lines of "they cannot detect any issues so suggest switching my device on and off." Hence I'll be leaving O2 as soon my contract is up. EE has good coverage here.

Don't get hung up on not receiving a copy of their DQ. You filled in the document so you know the kind of information it asks for i.e. mostly procedural information to assist the Court and nothing of relevance to your Defence. If you really want a copy, write to them and tell them they haven't served it on you, and ask them to send it to you. A better use of your energy may be to begin preparing your witness statement. As a starting point, gather up all the documents you want to rely on and then note down a timeline of what happened, how the issues first arose, leading up to the issue of proceedings.

As above I think your elderly relative's health should be first and foremost - if they think they've broken a bone they should really go to hospital. As for making a claim for personal injury, your claim should follow the pre-action protocol for low value pi claims (EL/PL) https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/protocol/pre-action-protocol-for-low-value-personal-injury-employers-liability-and-public-liability-claims . If you instruct solicitors they will complete an electronic Claim Notification Form (CNF) and submit directly to the supermarket's insurers. If you go it alone you'll still have to start the claim by sending a hard copy CNF to the Defendant's head office, and follow the process in the pre-action protocol. If you just issue proceedings (bear in mind liability could well be disputed) without following the protocol, proceed through the litigation process and end up with a win in Court, you run the risk that the Court could impose a sanction for failing to follow the protocol (and that could take the form of a reduction in damages). Not a certainty but a risk. Even if you don't follow that, there is still the pre-action protocol for personal injury. https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/protocol/prot_pic#3.1 If you submit a letter of claim to them, they can issue a response and the protocol gives them 3 months to investigate liability and respond. Notwithstanding the procedural aspects of making the claim, the liability issues outlined by Bazza above still need addressing. Sending a letter of claim should trigger them to investigate liability. Investigating this as a litigant in person will require an investment of time and energy.

Nothing for you to worry about, the other side will dispute the hire and storage costs when this finally gets sorted. When you say spoke to the firm did you mean kindertons or the garage? If not kindertons, might want to ask them if they can get someone else to move the car to the garage if copart are too ‘busy’. They’ll no doubt give you some story that they can’t do that, but at least it’ll be on record that you asked.

Seems like they're trying to avoid a hearing, however I think you absolutely did the right thing by requesting the offer be sent to you in writing. Just wait and see if anything materialises.

You've had a lot of advice on here but for what it's worth, I'd be hesitant about suggesting that you enter Default Judgment without knowing at least the following: Firstly: 1. During the complaints process with DIY chain, did Parent Co respond/intervene/do anything? Or was it radio silence? 2. Did you send an LBA to the Parent Co requesting payment of the £3.5k prior to issuing against them? If so, did they respond? 3. Were proceedings correctly served on the Parent Co - i.e. at their own head office (I'm guessing London) as opposed to the DIY chain's head office (I'm guessing Eastleigh). Secondly: You haven't actually clarified that you have a legitimate claim against them? I'm saying this as we don't know what's in your Particulars of Claim. I'm not sure that naming Parent Co in proceedings to apply pressure counts, particularly when you've already been in correspondence with the DIY chain about the issues. Has the Parent Co been negligent in any way? If you scale down the entities you're dealing with, imagine it was a sole trader/individual who fitted your kitchen badly and then you issued proceedings against him and also his dad. I say this because if you do enter Judgment, the Parent Co will almost certainly apply to get it set aside, and could (if they're on the ball) ask the Court to strike out your claim against them entirely. If they are successful, this could in turn lead to you having to pay them costs for issuing the claim against them in the first place (this would be at the Court's discretion and you would have some degree of leniency being a litigant in person). You are perfectly entitled to enter default judgment against Parent Co as they have not filed a defence. However, looking at the bigger picture I wouldn't expect them to just roll over, particularly if you have no actual claim against them. We don't have enough information here to say either way, so it's just a word of warning.

For what it's worth I think sgtbush read between the lines of the OP's original post where they say "Not much of a surprise that there were no assets at the second address". No assets at all (empty factory unit) or no assets belonging to the debtor? From what I understand the HCEO should attend at the address on the Writ of Control first - so what address did you put on that document? If you want advice as to where to go next, there's a lot of questions which you can't answer as you weren't there with the HCEO - so, firstly have the HCEO provided you with a written report of their attendances, detailing exactly what happened at each address?

Indeed the whole credit hire industry is rotten to the core and unfortunately when it comes to the Govt talking about fraud increasing motor insurance costs they focus on dodgy whiplash claims (which aren't that common), whereas targeting this sector would be more productive in my view. When it comes to credit hire I work solely on the Defendant side of the fence. You can have your suspicions but what you can prove (whilst keeping the litigation cost effective) is often very little. By the time I tend to see a file, the repairs will have long finished and there will already be some back and forth dispute correspondence between the hire co and the defendant insurers regarding the charges and maybe even a payment/offer. When you analyse the timeline and papers retrospectively you see all the little tricks in play, and unfortunately it's the norm, rather than the exception. With some of the credit hire issues you people raise on this forum the suspicions are somewhat confirmed. In this situation for example - the OP is confused as to why his car is being sent to Copart. Well he's right to be confused. Does this need to happen? Is the vehicle dangerous (sharp protruding edges that could hurt someone) or insecure in any way? If not then why move it - it could be kept at the OP's home address and inspected there too... The big one for me is 'Do people know what they're signing up for?'. Kindertons have told the OP all the costs will be recovered from the other side. Did Kindertons tell him that the hire and storage agreements say he is liable for those costs? He has to be personally liable for those costs in order for him to be able to claim from the Defendant. The OP says the car will be inspected and a report ready for Monday 15 Jan - I wouldn't be at all surprised if that report isn't sent to the other side's insurers till Thursday or Friday that week - it just increases the chance that they won't look at it till the following Monday - that's an extra £200 odd quid of hire charges. They may even ask the other side to authorise the repairs. Realistically there is no need for them to do this but insurers can be slow picking these things up and quite easily could add a week or two to the process - that's another £500-1000. All of that being said however... OP - for you, in my opinion the best you can do is stick with Kindertons as they are already dealing with things and if the matter doesn't settle, co-operate with them at their lawyers when the time comes. You could do something like hire your own car, if you have the money but you'll have no help (other than us ) claiming that back from the other side. When it comes to 'mitigating your losses' that doesn't mean you are forced to take the cheapest options available to you - it just means that you won't be fully reimbursed if you don't. This is not a matter for you to worry about as Kindertons have made a commercial decision to deal with your claim without doing any checks as to whether you need a credit hire vehicle. That's on them and they will bear the losses if there are any. Just make sure you co-operate with them and do your best to ensure they are dealing with things promptly. If you do this you will not be criticised.