Thank you @BankFodder, I will start a new thread and will upload some documents there too.

Completely agree. It’s such a shameful way of doing business and ruining people’s lives. Greedy revolting practices. The judge ripped right through them yesterday.

@BankFodder I wouldn’t have done it without your outstanding support, and everyone’s thoughts/ comments/encouragement on here. It is an incredible outcome after many months of unnecessary anxiety. Thank you so much!

@BankFodder The judge was harsh on their practises and their terms and conditions of whatever agreement they claimed to have provided me with.. .. at some point he referred to one of the clauses of the CFA’s as nonsense and asked the Express solicitors barrister if he could make sense of it. Through the evidences provided to the Judge it transpired that the Express solicitors tactics were deemed to be hard sales and that it was in fact the Express solicitors who’d terminated this work and not me. This was based on a telephone call transcript and a letter they sent to me.. the judge highlighted how polite I had been dealing with the matter and read a few phone transcripts and emails sent from me to express. The judge explained that it is clear the defendant has indeed provided with all the required information but that the firm had failed to note them correctly and persistently and inconveniently contacting me. The judge also stated that in not one case, the claimant was acting in the best interest of the defendant. He was disappointed. The judge disputed the hourly rates for a junior solicitor and stated that I was charged at 200% more than the actual rate. The judge was disappointed that a firm of solicitors claiming to be expert in injury claims had not in the space of six months appointed a medic to check me for my injury and he questioned why the defendant was so pressing on obtaining medical health records .. time after time.. lots of other things .. I will summarise concisely tomorrow. The order for cost from the claimant to the defendant was £1400 for the barrister’s time at the hearing today. I received this information yesterday by post.. my heart sunk! This was on top of the £3600 the claimant had raised in their statement. The judge asked that claimant pays me within 14 days the losses from my time off work today and my £3 parking fee. I must say the claimant had a very polite barrister and I was impressed by the barrister’s professionalism.. who was very different to the way the claimant operates… but than he didn’t work for the claimant .. @brassnecked Thank you so much. I’m delighted. It meant a lot to me. Not only financially but morally it was disheartening and I was very sad why such bitterness from the claimant… towards me. thank you so very much @London1971 for supporting me all along. It is hugely appreciated. @Manxman in exile the court decided in my favour and the judge dismissed the case!

Thank you so much @BankFodder @honeybee13 and so many others that I will mention shortly since I’m on a mobile device. I will write every single detail that I noted down from the Judge’s decision, and I hope this helps others as much as it did me. It was really unfair the way I was treated and it made me feel very sad quite often and stressed to the maximum. Things like this can have all sorts of impact on people.. however one thing I have to say is to have faith in humanity and of the good people out there/ on here. My eternal gratitude to every one of you.

***Update*** Case against Express Solicitors won. Hello everyone on this thread and forum. Today I want to share the good news that thanks to everyone on this forum and the outstanding support I received by esteemed forum members, I won the case against Express Solicitors. It was a long two hour hearing, and I was self represented, whilst Express had appointed a barrister, however it was a very fair hearing and the judge dismissed the case. I will write the reasons that the judge stated for his decision shortly, as I have just come home, but I just wanted to say a huge thank you to you good people on here. It’s been two very stressful years and what with being presented yesterday with another high fee from express solicitors for their legal representation today. More soon. have a great week end Stormy

@BankFodder good to hear from you and hope you’re keeping well. Apologies I should have explained, the case had a hearing due on 16/7 but was stood down due to lack of judicial review. I have spent the last two weeks reading the defence statement and materials from ES, and making notes/ preparing the evidence where the information provided is not correct. Is this the right approach please? Can I upload the defence statement here.. obv I will remove all defence to names and addresses . I would be grateful for some advice. Kind regards Stormy

I didn’t get confuse no, I am putting forward my arguments against ES defence statement. There are a number of inconsistencies there and I have gathered the evidence together for the judge at the hearing. Eg: ES say on 18 Aug they emailed me reg the SAR but as they didn’t hear back from me they thought I was satisfied with their basic response. I have in fact a copy of the email I sent that day to the partner of the firm stating that this response is inadequate and I will be making a complaint at the ICO, which I subsequently did. On another paragraph ES has a statement from their junior solicitor saying she’s spoken to me and advised me to call my insirance and tell them not to proceed with any claim as it invalidates the work ES is doing.. I found that puzzling for two reasons: 1- there were no records of this conversation either in writing or in their phone transcript they have put together and 2- I never called my insirance company to ask them for an injury claim..

Hi All, and haven't been here for a while as have been ready the 356 pages of defence from Express Solicitors and working 7am-7pm which so rightly Express solicitors point out in their defence statement. The case is stood out due to lack of judicial support. Another date will be provided. But due to work commitments i have told the court that i will not be available until late September, when one of my projects reaches an important milestone so i need not to be distracted. Interesting that in their defence statement ES have been able to submit every single record of my telephone conversation with their staff..but yet they couldn't provide me under SAR with those details. This is a start! There are lots of interesting stuff on that defence and i have gone line by line with my arguments, some statements from their so called junior solicitors whose daily rate is a whooping £230p/h are not backed by records of our communication, that made me smile. As I said, I am completely baffled that a firm which believes to be working with high ethics, puts themselves in this position. The records of the conversation are usually around me explaining to ES junior solicitor that i have provided her with the information on several occasions, that I am unable to answer the phone during the day, that i work 7am-7pm due to high pressured work environment in a very challenging London Local Authority. I am a transformation strategy manager for local government, and i strive to improve the lives of people not make them miserable. Ironically one of the projects in my programme is how to deal with debts ethically- so we don't put residents in despair quite a contrast to what's happening in my own private life. I welcome your comments and will be asking some questions now on my defence statement as I work on the case, unfortunately it's been very difficult to keep up with it. But I am determined to make my case in a straightforward factual reasonable manner.

Thank you BazaS, yes I have highlighted this in my defence statement. I will upload this tomorrow morning.

Yes there was an insurance in place and had legal cost covered .. express solicitors did not ask for it. Only if I had made a claim with another company.

Thanks for the replies, Express solicitors are despicable and their cut throat approach and slack and rude attitude did not conform with my principles.. My defence statement might not be 326 pages.. I will put a photo here.. but I am confident that the judges will see reason. Quite disheartening I will be dealing with them.. in my profession we conduct business honestly and respectfully.. but then again I am a public servant not a fee fleecing institution!

Yes this case is still going and it is indeed in 11 days. Statement prepared. Express solicitors have very “kindly” supplied me with their 326 page document witness statement. Impressive!!

Thank you kindly, hugely appreciated. I will do. I have a draft ready that I put together with Bankfodder's genius help some time ago, will review and post it here.

Thanks a lot - Yes that's fine. I will do that. I have all the evidence as well so will send to court as directed via email.