It is already "escalated" as high as it could ever go. There is no further "escalation". The case will now be passed to your local county court where you will receive notice of a hearing date and deadlines for the claimant to pay the £27 trial fee and the date by which any witness statement or other documents that are to be relied on must be submitted to the court. DCB Legal will issue an N279 Notice of Discontinuance (NoD) just before the date the trial fee has to be paid, if the judge doesn't strip ke out their claim first.
As for the conduct of the mediator and the claimants representative in the mediation call, you should email the following two complaints, one to the SCMS and the other to DCB Legal.
To the Small Claims Mediation Service at scmreferrals@justice.gov.uk and CC yourself:
Subject: Formal Complaint – Conduct and Impartiality of Mediator
Dear Sir or Madam,
I wish to raise a formal complaint regarding the conduct of the mediator assigned to my Small Claims Mediation telephone appointment on [insert date] for claim number [insert claim number].
During the call, the mediator was overly assertive and pressurised me to discuss liability, despite my clear statement that liability was denied and that my Defence fully sets out my position. The mediator repeatedly urged me to “discuss the case further” and warned that a court hearing could take up to six months, which I perceived as an attempt to dissuade me from maintaining my defence.
I explained that I was unwilling to negotiate on a matter where liability is denied, yet the mediator persisted. Such behaviour falls short of the impartial, facilitative role required of HMCTS mediators.
I request that this complaint be formally logged, investigated, and that I am provided with confirmation of the mediator’s name and the outcome of your review.
Yours faithfully,
[Your full name]
And to DCB Legal at info@dcblegal.co.uk and CC yourself:
Subject: Formal Complaint – Misconduct and Unprofessional Conduct at Small Claims Mediation (Claim No. [insert])
Dear Sir or Madam,
I write to raise a formal complaint concerning the conduct of your representative, identified only as “Olivia”, during the Small Claims Mediation Service telephone mediation held on [insert date] for the above claim.
At the commencement of the call, I requested:
• the full name of the DCB Legal representative;
• her position within your firm; and
• confirmation that she held written authority to negotiate and settle on behalf of the claimant.
She refused to give her surname, refused to confirm her position, and gave only her first name, “Olivia”. She did, however, claim to hold written authority to negotiate. If this is true, I now formally require DCB Legal to provide documentary proof of that written authority.
More disturbingly, the HMCTS mediator confirmed to me during the call that your representative had not seen my Defence. It is impossible to engage in any meaningful or bona fide negotiation without sight of the pleaded Defence. Sending an unidentified and apparently unbriefed representative into a formal HMCTS mediation demonstrates serious procedural misconduct and professional negligence.
Your firm purports to be a regulated legal practice conducting litigation on behalf of claimants. As such, you are expected to act competently, with transparency and integrity. The conduct of “Olivia” fell far short of this standard. Her refusal to identify herself and her lack of case knowledge breached the basic duty owed to both the Court and the opposing party.
Please confirm:
1. The full name, position, and SRA authorisation status (if applicable) of “Olivia”;
2. Whether she is an employee, contractor, or external agent;
3. Whether she held written authority to act, and provide evidence of it;
4. The reason she attended mediation without the Defence or sufficient case knowledge.
Failure to respond substantively will result in this complaint being escalated to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. In addition, I reserve the right to produce this correspondence as evidence of DCB Legal’s unreasonable behaviour at any subsequent hearing under CPR 27.14(2)(g) when costs are considered.
Please acknowledge receipt and confirm the name of the person responsible for investigating this complaint under your internal complaints procedure.
Yours faithfully,
[Your Full Name]
This is the latest advice for the mediation call:
For the mediation call, the only requirement is for you "attend" the call. It is not part of the judicial process and no judge is involved.
This is what I advise you to say when you receive the call from the mediator:
“Before I set out my position, please confirm from the claimant’s side:
• the full name of the person attending for them;
• their role/position at their legal representative’s firm; and
• whether they hold written authority to negotiate and settle today.
Please relay that back to me before we continue.”
After the mediator calls back...
If identified and authority confirmed:
“Thank you. I’m content to proceed on that basis. My settlement offer is £0, or I invite the claimant to discontinue with no order as to costs.”
If no/unclear authority:
“Please record that the claimant’s attendee has not confirmed settlement authority. My position remains that liability is denied and my offer is £0, subject to prompt approval by an authorised solicitor if they choose to discontinue.”
All you need to know is the name and the position of the person acting for the claimant and report that back to us. It will be over within minutes. Complete waste of time otherwise.
As usual, a typical claim by the incompetents at Gladstones. There is no cause of action in those Particulars of Claim (PoC).
With an issue date of 11th June, you had until 4pm on Monday 30th March to June your defence. Having submitted an Acknowledgement of Service (AoS) before then, you now have until 4pm on Monday 14th July to submit your defence.
Here is the defence and link to the draft order and relevant transcripts that go with it. You only need to edit your name and the claim number. You sign the defence by typing your full name for the signature and date it. There is nothing to edit in the draft order.
When you're ready you send all the documents as a single PDF attachment (in the order of 'defence', 'draft order' and then the 2 'transcripts') in an email to claimresponses.cnbc@justice.gov.uk and CC in yourself. The claim number must be in the email subject field and in the body of the email just put: "Please find attached the defence and draft order in the matter of Horizon Parking Ltd v [your full name] Claim no.: [claim number]."
IN THE COUNTY COURT
Claim No: [Claim Number]
BETWEEN:
Horizon Parking Ltd
Claimant
- and -
[Defendant's Full Name]
Defendant
DEFENCE
1. The Defendant denies the claim in its entirety. The Defendant asserts that there is no liability to the Claimant and that no debt is owed. The claim is without merit and does not adequately disclose any comprehensible cause of action.
2. There is a lack of precise detail in the Particulars of Claim (PoC) in respect of the factual and legal allegations made against the Defendant such that the PoC do not comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a).
3. The Defendant is unable to plead properly to the PoC because:
(a) The contract referred to is not detailed or attached to the PoC in accordance with CPR PD 16(7.5);
(b) The PoC do not state the exact wording of the clause (or clauses) of the terms and conditions of the contract (or contracts) which is/are relied on;
(c) The PoC do not adequately set out the reason (or reasons) why the claimant asserts the defendant has breached the contract (or contracts)
(d) The PoC do not state with sufficient particularity exactly where the breach occurred, the exact time when the breach occurred and how long it is alleged that the vehicle was parked before the parking charge was allegedly incurred;
(e) The PoC do not state precisely how the sum claimed is calculated, including the basis for any statutory interest, damages, or other charges;
(f) The PoC do not state what proportion of the claim is the parking charge and what proportion is damages;
(g) The PoC do not provide clarity on whether the Defendant is sued as the driver or the keeper of the vehicle, as the claimant cannot plead alternative causes of action without specificity.
4. The Defendant cites the cases of CEL v Chan 2023 [E7GM9W44] and CPMS v Akande 2024 [K0DP5J30], which are persuasive appellate decisions. In these cases, claims were struck out due to identical failures to comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a). Transcripts of these decisions are attached to this Defence.
5. The Defendant attaches to this defence a copy of a draft order approved by a district judge at another court. The court struck out the claim of its own initiative after determining that the Particulars of Claim failed to comply with CPR 16.4.(1)(a). The judge noted that the claimant had failed to:
(i) Set out the exact wording of the clause (or clauses) of the terms and conditions relied upon;
(ii) Failed to explain the reasons why the defendant was allegedly in breach of contract;
(iii) Provide separate, detailed Particulars of Claim as permitted under CPR PD 7C.5.2(2).
(iv) The court further observed that, given the modest sum claimed, requiring further case management steps would be disproportionate and contrary to the overriding objective. Accordingly, the judge struck out the claim outright rather than permitting an amendment.
6. The Defendant submits that the same reasoning applies in this case and invites the court to adopt a similar approach by striking out the claim for the Claimant’s failure to comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a).
Statement of truth
I believe that the facts stated in this Defence are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.
Signed:
Date:
Draft Order for the defence (https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/zc23txk7poctyyxiv2ytx/Strikeout-order-1-a-v2.1.pdf?rlkey=pancly3z6zwqt2cra5rvvh3ls&st=nq7a58tz&dl=0)
CEL v Chan Transcript (https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/nb9ypbecuurpmln00dily/CELvChan-appeal-transcript.pdf?rlkey=7mpuvpmpe45s2zbhch21om1ez&st=i8dnbod3&dl=0)
CPMS v Akande Transcript (https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/y631olc61z1slr6xfrdsk/CPM-v-AKANDE.pdf?rlkey=kltpojedcxiwarxr0sdfyjo05&st=qi4lv3fv&dl=0)
If you want an editable MS Word file with everything in a single document which you can then save/export as a single PDF file when ready to send, use this:
MS Word .docx file for defence [CPR 16.4(1)(a)] (https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/krubcbnf27bsis66pq4yg/Short-defence-strikeout-CPR16.4-1-a-3.docx?rlkey=z87f3h8is3hgnp7sqr8plsz99&st=ldawlubu&dl=0)