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."

[WhiteVanMan5]

How does this look?

WITNESS STATEMENT OF ****** ****

IN SUPPORT OF THE CLAIMANT'S APPLICATION DATED 22 JULY 2026

Introduction


1. I am the Claimant (Litigant in Person) in this matter. Except where otherwise stated, the facts handled in this statement are within my own knowledge and are true.

2. This statement is made in support of my application dated 22 July 2026 for directions regarding the appointment of a Single Joint Expert witness, a consequential extension of the court timetable, and an order for the application costs.

Background to the Claim


3. The underlying claim relates to a Vauxhall Combo vehicle supplied to me which suffered from material defects and structural issues, rendering it not of satisfactory quality or fit for purpose.

4. To establish the condition of the vehicle prior to the commencement of litigation, independent automotive expert Mr ****** ******* was instructed to inspect the vehicle. Crucially, Mr ******* was originally appointed at the explicit request of the Defendant. He has subsequently produced comprehensive inspection reports detailing the vehicle's faults, which are central to proving my claim.

Reason for the Application


5. Pursuant to the Court Order dated 5 June 2026, the original deadline to agree and instruct a joint expert was 24 June 2026.

6. Despite my proactive attempts to progress this matter via email correspondence to the Defendant's solicitors, the Defendant completely failed to engage or respond regarding the appointment of a Single Joint Expert ahead of this deadline, ignoring the explicit timeline set out in the court's directions.

7. The parties subsequently agreed to a 28-day extension of time (notified to the court on 25 June 2026) to suspend litigation steps while a full without-prejudice settlement was finalised. The new deadline was set for 4:00 PM on 22 July 2026.

8. This application has become necessary because the Defendant has failed to progress the settlement terms within that 28-day window. Consequently, the deadline of 22 July 2026 is expiring without a joint expert being formally instructed or the settlement being executed, leaving me legally exposed.

Evidence Supporting the Application


9. Following the agreed extension on 25 June 2026, the Part 20 Defendant (************) and I were ready to execute settlement terms. However, the process completely stalled while awaiting the formal draft documents and a Tomlin Order from the Defendant's solicitors, *** LLP.

10. On 10 July 2026, I provided my formal bank details to the Part 20 Defendant to enable the paperwork to be completed and explicitly requested that *** LLP coordinate the unified settlement bundle for my review early the following week.

11. At 08:43 on 15 July 2026, the Part 20 Defendant confirmed via email that they were still waiting on draft documents from *** LLP and stated they would chase them immediately. At 08:47, the Part 20 Defendant formally emailed *** LLP requesting an urgent update.

12. By Friday 17 July 2026, exactly 24 days of the agreed 28-day extension had been allowed to lapse by the Defendant without any meaningful progress or response.

13. At 15:23 on Friday 17 July 2026—in the final minutes of the working week before the deadlines expired—*** LLP sent an email containing a draft Consent Order via DocuSign.

14. Upon review, this document proved to be a defective draft for a further extension. It proposed an extension of time strictly for the Paragraph 6 Witness Evidence deadline, but completely omitted the Paragraph 8.2 Expert Directions deadline expiring on 22 July 2026.

15. Furthermore, the Paragraph 6 Witness Evidence deadline and the Paragraph 8.2 Expert Directions are intrinsically linked. It is procedurally impossible for me to finalise my main Trial Witness Statement until the appointment and scope of the Single Joint Expert is resolved, as the expert's technical findings regarding the vehicle's defects are central to the evidence I must present at trial.

16. Similarly, the deadlines set out in Paragraph 9 (Claimant's Schedule of Loss) and Paragraph 12 (Pre-Trial Checklists and Trial Fee) are currently set for 19 August 2026. It is impossible for me to accurately quantify my ongoing financial losses or confidently confirm my readiness for trial until the single joint expert's final report and subsequent clarifications are completed.

17. As a Litigant in Person, I operate a commercial courier business. My driving commitments on Sunday 19 July through to Wednesday 22 July mean I have absolutely no operational capacity during standard working hours to negotiate or review revised drafts with corporate solicitors. Because the Defendant's late, defective draft left me entirely exposed to a breach of court directions regarding the expert witness, I have been forced to utilise my only rest day (Saturday 18 July) to draft this application.

18. Regarding the expert witness, I draw the Court’s attention to the guidance in Bulic v Danubia Medical Ltd [2007] EWHC 3346 (QB). The court established that where an expert has already carried out substantial work and a report is critical to a party's case, forcing the abandonment of that expert can cause substantial injustice.

19. Mr ****** ******* has already thoroughly inspected the vehicle at the Defendant's initial request, and his existing reports are critical to proving my case. Forcing the instruction of a brand-new expert at this stage would cause extreme financial prejudice, unnecessary delay, and completely violate the Overriding Objective regarding cost and proportionality.

What I Am Asking the Court to Do


20. I respectfully ask the Court to make the following orders:

• Mr ***** ******* be formally appointed by the parties as the Single Joint Expert in this matter.
• Alternatively, the Claimant shall be granted explicit permission to rely on the existing expert inspection reports of Mr ***** ******* dated 22 December 2023 and24th May 2024 at the trial.
• The Paragraph 6 Witness Evidence deadline be consequentially extended to a reasonable date following the completion and service of the final Single Joint Expert report.
• The court dates in Paragraphs 8.3, 8.3(i), and 8.3(ii) of the Court Order dated 5 June 2026 (governing the progress of the expert report) be amended to reflect the delay caused by the Defendant.
• The subsequent deadlines set out in Paragraph 9 (Schedule of Loss), Paragraph 10 (Counter-Schedule of Loss), and Paragraph 12 (Pre-Trial Checklists and Trial Fee) of the Court Order dated 5 June 2026 be extended to ensure the parties have sufficient time to comply following the resolution of the expert evidence, with all actual revised dates to be determined by the Judge at the hearing.
• The Defendant shall pay the Claimant's court fee of £321.00 for this application. They failed to engage in timely correspondence, allowed 24 days of a mutually agreed extension to expire, and ultimately provided a defective draft for a partial extension at the eleventh hour, directly forcing the filing of this unilateral application.

Statement of Truth

21. I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement 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: .................................................. ...

[Frank1]

AI is wrong. Your main witness statement is only served, not filed It should be included in the trial bundle prepared by the solicitor.
This is confirmed in item 6 of the court directions.