Cam Chain snapped on new van after 20 months / 114k miles

[WhiteVanMan5]

I confess - I'm a bit confused by this "Your witness statement can wait as it is not filed." and this "mini witness statement" - the deadline for the full Witness Statement is 22nd July? So I need to prepare the witness statement in full?

I will work on everything today. I should send the email from post 524?

[Frank1]

See post 494 it's a witness statement in support of your application.
If it was me I wouldn't send it.
When the court phones you to take payment for the application you could explain the situation with "ongoing negotiations " and ask the last possible time to make payment before the application is disposed of.

The original 28 days extension you agreed to was ample and generous. The defendant knows you are not claiming interest so wouldn't be concerned about delays to the process.

[Frank1]

Posts 494, 495 and 496

[WhiteVanMan5]

So just to check we are on the same page - at this stage I should reject further extensions and proceed to submit my N244 and Witness Statement on Thursday?

If that's what you are saying I'd just come to say that is the conclusion I had reached - if I'm preparing it all today anyway I may as well just proceed with it.

[Frank1]

22nd July is Tuesday.

You are not filing and serving your full Witness Statement. Just a mini statement in support of your application.

[WhiteVanMan5]

Oops - we're both wrong - 22nd July is Wednesday

I'm missing something/confusing something/ Paragraph 6 of the court order states:
"By 4pm on 22nd July 2026 all parties must serve on (send to) each other signed statements of themselves and of all witnesses on whom they intend to rely and all notices relating to evidence. This may be done by email. All witness statements must be verified by a statement of truth in accordance with Part 22 of the Civil Procedure Rules."

This raises the question - do I require a statement at this stage from my engineer as well?

Sorry if I'm getting confused and asking you to repeat things.

[Frank1]

You should attach your engineer's reports to your application as evidence in support

[WhiteVanMan5]

I'm still confused about the witness statement. I think we're in a different place and I'm not understanding why.

I've prepared this draft to send to the other parties today. Obviously it's still referencing the Witness Statement as I (mis)understand it.


I am in receipt of the draft Consent Order sent by *** at 15:23 yesterday.

Please be advised that I will not be executing the DocuSign bundle. This defective draft proposes a further extension of time strictly for the Paragraph 6 Witness Evidence deadline, while completely omitting the Paragraph 8.2 Expert Directions Application deadline, which also expires this coming Wednesday, 22 July 2026. Signing a document that only extends one specific deadline leaves me entirely exposed to a breach of court directions regarding the joint expert witness next week.

As a Litigant in Person, my commercial driving commitments from Sunday through to Wednesday mean I have absolutely no operational capacity to review, negotiate, or execute revised drafts next week. Because this draft for a partial extension leaves me legally exposed and time has now run out, I am utilising my availability today, Saturday, to fully prepare my formal Witness Statement and my unilateral N244 Expert Directions Application. I will be filing both documents directly with the Court on Wednesday 22 July.

Like the Part 20 Defendant, I am utterly baffled as to why *** and ***** Bank have failed to progress these settlement terms in any meaningful way. The parties previously agreed to a 28-day extension to finalise this matter, and *** has allowed 24 days of that window to lapse while being consistently slow to respond to both myself and the Part 20 Defendant. To dump a defective draft for a further extension into my inbox in the final minutes of the working week is unacceptable.

I will now proceed with active litigation steps to protect my position. I will file my completed application and evidence on Wednesday afternoon, and I will robustly seek my full application costs against the Defendant at the next hearing on the basis of your excessive and unreasonable delay.

Yours sincerely,

[Frank1]

Your last email is much better than the previous one and shows you believe your claim now has the upper hand.
Make sure in your application as the last para under " What you want the court to do" you state the court orders the defendant to pay the court fee for the application as they failed to.............

[WhiteVanMan5]

I will send that email now, as is.
And get to work on the Witness statement and N244.

[WhiteVanMan5]

This is the explanation AI has given me for the Witness statement. Do you concur? Is this where you are coming from? So I am ignoring the deadline for Paragraph 6 of the Court Order and only submitting the N244 (with an attached mini witness statement)? Clearing Up the Confusion: Is this the Paragraph 6 Statement?

No, this specific draft is not your main Trial Witness Statement for Paragraph 6. This is a Witness Statement in Support of an Application (N244).

In a court case, there are two types of witness statements:

• Type 1: The Trial Witness Statement (Required by Paragraph 6): This is where you tell the whole story of the van—when you bought the Vauxhall Combo, what went wrong with it, how it affected your courier work, and what financial losses you suffered. It is evidence for the final trial.
• Type 2: The Application Witness Statement (For the N244): This is a short, targeted statement used only to explain to a judge why you are making a specific request middle-way through a case. It focuses entirely on procedural facts—like TLT’s 24-day delay and the issue with the expert witness.

Why you are filing Type 2 on Wednesday:

Because you are rejecting ***'s defective extension agreement, you are legally exposed on Wednesday for both deadlines (Witness Statements and Expert Directions).

By filing this N244 application and this supporting statement on Wednesday, you are saying to the Judge:

"I cannot file my main Paragraph 6 Trial Statement today because the expert issue isn't sorted yet due to the Defendant's 24-day delay. Please pause the timetable, officially appoint Mr Mighall, and give me a new date to submit my main Paragraph 6 statement later."