*** WON *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - hearing 31st July

[Amethyst]

Re: *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - claim issued 17-2-2015 - WIP

No you don't xx

[mike2015]

Re: *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - claim issued 17-2-2015 - WIP

Sorry - me again
Defence filed on Court website - only problem is that it cut off at point 16 e
Maybe it didnt all fit in the box
Can I add to the info supplied ?

[Amethyst]

Re: *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - claim issued 17-2-2015 - WIP

bummer.

Right I'll sort out a PDF for you to email to the court as well then with a brief explanation.

-----------------------------------------


f) Further or alternatively, the Relevant Clause allows for the imposition of unspecified penalties which do not reflect any actual loss to the Claimant. These penalties are therefore unenforceable at common law.

17. The Defendant has experienced alarm and distress which has been caused by the Claimant’s misleading actions which caused the Defendant to enter into the alleged Agreement, which resulted in:harassment of the Defendant by continual telephone calls, emails, text messages and voice messages sent by the Claimant for payment of monies which are not due; and
the alarm and distress associated with the foreseeable Claim and court proceedings which the Claimant has brought against the Defendant.

18. The Claimant made the Personal Data of the Defendant freely available through the internet without any controls over who can gain access to that Personal Data from the date the defendant submitted their data to the Claimant. The web address which contains that Personal Data is printed on the Claim Form, and has been submitted to (and disclosed to) Her Majesty’s Court Service through the County Court Bulk Centre. Unidentified third parties could also access the Personal Data without any controls if they can ascertain the correct web address. All that is required to ascertain the correct web address is a name, or part of a name. The Claimant has amended this following complaints to the Claimant and Information Commissioner and changed the access on 24th February 2015 to require the applicant's date of birth to be entered in order to access the data.

19.The Claimant, in making that Personal Data freely available through the internet, has breached the First, Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Data Protection Principles, as set out in s.4 and Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

20. The Defendant denies the Claimant is entitled to the relief as claimed, or at all.

[mike2015]

Re: *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - claim issued 17-2-2015 - WIP

Many thanks - sorry to keep creating work for you:tinysmile_hmm_t2:

[Amethyst]

Re: *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - claim issued 17-2-2015 - WIP

You have an email xx

[Amethyst]

Re: *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - claim issued 17-2-2015 - WIP

Many thanks - sorry to keep creating work for you:tinysmile_hmm_t2:

bahhh it's fine xx

[Amethyst]

Re: *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - claim issued 17-2-2015 - WIP

In the County Court at Bristol Claim No B2QZ137E


Claimant: UK Services & Support Ltd
Defendant:


Witness Statement of Martin Wyatt

1. I, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and I make this statement in support of my defence in this claim which is due to be heard on 31 st July 2015 at County Court Bristol.

1. In March 2014 my wife and I made a late decision to go abroad on holiday. I checked the passports and realised that mine was out of date so I had to get it renewed in a couple of weeks. As I was busy with a work issue my wife undertook to arrange to get the passport renewed without delay. She looked on the internet for the fastest method to contact the Passport office and make an urgent appointment.

1. The first site up was the ‘British Passport Services’ (BPS) so she followed the guidance and instructions on the page to secure me an appointment at the passport office.

1. In order to be sure that we secured an appointment in time ( as we were in somewhat of a panic as we might have to cancel our trip ) she telephoned the number given on the site and spoke to an individual – who gave his name as Sam Harris. Mr Harris represented himself as a representative of the HM Passport Office.

1. He appeared to be very helpful and assured my wife he could arrange the appointment for 30 th April. This date was essential as we were to travel the following week . My wife was under the impression that she was looking at an official government website and that the person she was speaking to was acting in an official capacity. Our understanding was that the fee we were paying was for the booking of the appointment and the issue of the passport.

1. We paid the fee requested by credit card and shortly after received a confirmation of appointment at Newport Passport Office for 7th May.

1. My wife immediately called the telephone number again and spoke to the same individual – “ Sam Harris “ – who said that this was probably a mistake on their side and he could re-book the appointment for the 30 th April .

1. Mr Harris then confirmed an appointment for the 30 th April but said the appointment was in the name of another person and we should mention that name on arrival at the Passport Office . We expressed concern at this but he said it was perfectly in order to do this.

1. We attended the appointment at Newport Passport Office on 30 th April and gave the other persons name as confirmation of our booking. When we spoke to the agent dealing with us we discovered that the money we had paid had gone to British Passport Services which was not an official agent of the Passport Office and that the fee for the issue of the Passport was still due.

1. In fact the agent told us that many many people had been deceived by this company and had arrived at the passport office only to discover they had parted with money for an appointment that they could and should have made directly with the Passport Office. She told us that they had people breaking down crying at the passport office and the day before us a student had arrived but not been able to afford the fee as he had parted with the last of his money to British Passport Services and left the office without a passport.

1. We were very angry at this deception as we had only wanted to directly book an appointment at the HM Passport Office to obtain the passport urgently. We thought the fee we had paid was the fee for the passport, and we had had no intention to use any third party to book a free appointment. We were misled by the companies website and by representations made by ‘Mr Harris’ on the telephone.

1. We telephoned our credit card company immediately on leaving the Passport Office. The credit card company agreed that as we had been charged for a service that was not provided they would refund the money paid.

1. I heard nothing more from British Passport Services until November 2014 when I suddenly started to receive a stream of text messages from the person calling himself “ Sam Harris “ ( I have since learnt that this is an alias for the owner of the company – Richard Howard ) . The messages initially stated that they had not been paid for services provided and that they assumed it was an oversight on my part .

1. Around 14 th November I received a letter from the claimant which asked for payment ( Exhibit X ) . The letter included a copy of the alleged contract , this was the first time I had seen this . The letter also wrongly stated that the appointment was on the 7 th May 2014. The letter was very intimidating and included an “ example “ court claim. The letter also listed numerous services which I supposedly had asked for .

I never received any emergency travel document card and do not even know what this is nor do I remember asking for one.
I did not have any 30 minute telephone consultation.
I was never sent any details for any queue jumping website and also don’t know why one would need this for an appointment that is booked at a specific time.
I had no requirement for directions to the Passport Office . I have my own Sat Nav.
I did not receive a Passport Protective cover , have any passport photos from the Claimant or receive any copy of the Passport application form.
Nothing was checked by the company as booking an appointment actually only requires a name and contact telephone number.

I then on 19 th December received a letter threatening court proceedings ( Exhibit X )

. I also began receiving a number of threatening telephone calls from another number – 0161 663 0072. Calls were even being made late in the evening on a Saturday night.

1. I responded by text to the messages I was receiving from “ Sam Harris “ and also wrote to the company by recorded delivery on 30 th December 2014 to inform them we had been misled by their company and had had no intention to use their ‘services’ or enter into any agreement with any third party. ( Exhibit Y )

1. I strongly believe I was misled and deceived into understanding that I was dealing with the official HM Passport Office's service, contrary to the Misrepresentation Act 1967.

1. On researching how to deal with a County Court claim I discovered the Claimant also owns other websites that are very similar to www.britishpassportservices.co.uk, including www.ukpassportoffices.co.uk, which was the subject of an Advertising Standards Authority adjudication (ref A14-273276) which found that the website breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising), 3.9 (Qualification) and 3.17 (Prices). The ASA required that the site be removed or changed. (EXHIBIT A) The initial review was for the website as it appeared on 8 July 2014.

1. The Claimant did not accept the ASA's adjudication and submitted a request for an independent review. This led to the adjudication being upheld on 1 July 2015. . (EXHIBIT C)

1. In a similar case to mine. Case B7QZ6275 at Cambridge County Court on 7th May 2015 before Deputy District Judge Raggett (EXHIBIT E). The Judge found against the Claimant due to his website being misleading. The UKpassportoffices.co.uk website was deemed by Deputy District Judge Raggett at Cambridge County Court to be in an extremely similar format to the BPS website. . (EXHIBIT B)

1. I also found numerous complaints about the Claimant across various online discussion forums such as LegalBeagles and MoneySavingExpert. I am aware of a number claims bought by the claimant that have been heard by the Court to date. All have been found in favour of the Defendant.

1. I believe that the large number of people who have misunderstood and complained about this website clearly demonstrates that the website is very easy to misinterpret as the official HM Passport Office.

1. The Claimant has made over 772 claims across the county since November 2014 (EXHIBIT D). I am aware of 11 claims that have been heard to date and the Claimant’s claim has been dismissed in each one (EXHIBIT F). A further 16 cases are listed for hearing at courts throughout the UK, and many others are awaiting a court date. The Claimant has, to date, attended only one hearing (EXHIBIT E)..

1. I do not believe I have any liability to the Claimant. I received no services from the Claimant. I cancelled any alleged agreement I was misled into entering into and had no intention to contract with the Claimant whatsoever.

Statement of Truth

[Amethyst]

Re: *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - claim issued 17-2-2015 - WIP

Best of luck today xx

[Kati]

Re: *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - hearing 31st July

Good luck xx

[Amethyst]

Re: *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - hearing 31st July

*** won ***

16 - 0

[Amethyst]

Re: *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - hearing 31st July

from Mike

Went to Court this morning - strange experience.
Howard didn't turn up - they told me this on arrival.
Called in first to the Court ( about 20 others waiting all for 10.00 hearings )

Judge said that as Claimant had not appeared she had two choices - adjourn the hearing to a future date or dismiss it - but if she dismissed it there was a chance Claimant could apply to have it re-listed.
Despite my efforts she had not seen my witness statement ( I called the day before and they assured me the judge would see it ! )
But she said she had seen the defence ( I assume she meant the original defence sent many months ago to Northampton ?) and understood why I didn't want to pay.

So finally she decided to rule in my favour - I think - and send a notice would be sent to both parties
£ 103.00 awarded in costs - but she said if it was not paid it was up to me to try to get it - how can that be possible ?
Whole thing took 10 minutes

Anyway final result to a long and irritating struggle - and without your help and support I would have given up and paid

Many many thanks and keep up the good work to get Howard stopped and suitably rewarded for his nasty business tactics

[enaid]

Re: *** WON *** MIKE v BritishPassportServices - hearing 31st July

Well done, bit naughty imho the judge not doing her job properly and reading everything. Well when you have judgement and Tricky will get his copy then he will have probably 14 days to pay.