** DISCONTINUED ** lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - 20th August 2015

[lind01]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

Hi there,

With my hearing approaching fast now,what do I need to get in place for my Witness Statement.

Linda

[Amethyst]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

20th August isn't it, so your WS will need to go in for 6th August. Few examples about in this forum now, this is Peter Piper's http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...083#post560083

[lind01]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

Hi Amethyst,

I just dont know where to begin with all this.

Just had a look at Peters, should mine be the same?

Lind01

[Amethyst]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

Hiya xxx Apologies the last couple days have been a little manic.

Don't worry too much about the wording of the witness statement, just go in date order, from when you went on the BPS website to where you are today, and put a breif description of what happened, contact received/sent etc. Its factual, not opinion, so you don't need to make arguments just say what happened and when. Use this as an outline http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...utline-for-BPS - then if you post that on here we can help you with any additional bits about the ASA and other court cases.

Don't forget we're winning 12 - nil - and I don't expect the other side to score ANY xx

[lind01]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

Hi there,

I've sent you over my WS

Linda

[Amethyst]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

Claim No. B2QZ88IJ
IN THE COUNTY COURT CHELMSFORD
B E T W E E N:-
UK SERVICES & SUPPORT LTD
Claimant
and
LINDxxxxxxxxxxx
Defendant

____________________________________________
WITNESS STATEMENT
_____________________________________________

I, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx will state as follows;


1: I am a Personal Assistant and Single mum. and the defendant in these proceedings. I make this witness statement in support of my defence in this case.

2: On 15/05/2014 I found myself in a position where I needed to renew a passport for my daughter Sophia Tomlinson in order for us to travel to Egypt on the 25^th May 2015

3: I searched online using Google and clicked a result which stated Urgent Passport Renewal

4: This took me to the BritishPassportServices website which was the most official looking of the top results; www.britishpassportservices.co.uk. The website was convincing and seemed to be official and offer what looked to be the exact service I required and the cost was quoted as £117.60.

5: I clicked the large “APPLY NOW!” button on the website which led me to an online booking form. I completed this with my daughter’s personal details and entered the dates which I was available to attend my appointment at The London Victoria Passport Office. This was 16^th May 2014.

6: I completed the form to renew my daughters passport in the belief that British Passport Services was part of, or otherwise an authorized agent of, Her Majesty’s Passport Office. I believed that the indicated cost of £117.60 covered the cost of renewing her UK passport and that the form I completed was my application to renew her passport.

7: I was asked to use my mouse pad to make an impression of my signature, which I duly performed, believing I was signing my passport application, and ticked a box to confirm my details were correct.

8: The website then took me to a payment page where I was asked for £117.60. At this stage I didn’t feel comfortable that a payment should be taken, because HMPO normally take payment via cash or debit card on receipt of collection of passport. I then felt very uncomfortable at this point and decided that I would come out of the site. I thought that would be the end of the matter and intended to contact the HMPO by telephone to double check with them.

10: 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.

11: I decided, after reading more information, to take my daughters abroad with the valid date on her passport and thought no more of it. I had not entered into any agreement or ordered any services, I had simply filled in some details on a form which I left when asked for payment. The payment page clearly stated that no payment meant no contract/service would be provided.

12: Then on the 17^th December 2014 I was surprised to receive a text message from ‘Passport’ stating that an outstanding balance of £117.60 was overdue Exhibit A

13: I was confused at this point and decided to call the phone number on the text message. I spoke to a gentleman named John Abraham, who told me this was an outstanding balance and need to be paid. I told him that I didn’t owe any money and asked to speak to a supervisor. He told me that he was the supervisor and I could not speak to anybody else, other that himself. At this point the gentleman became very aggressive and threatening, expressing that if I did not pay, then bailiffs would be coming to my address within a couple of days to take belongings from my home.

14: I felt very unhappy and frightened, so ended the call, and immediately called HMPO, where they advised me that they are a copycat website and to call the police and report British Passport Services.

15: Until then I had not received a copy of any contract, By not providing me with the contract in a durable medium at the point that the alleged contract was struck the claimant has breached Regulation 5, Regulation 16(1) and 16 (4) of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

16: In response to the allegation in Exhibit D that all the services had been delivered:

a. I had obviously not received any letter notification at this point as it was still only a little more than an hour after I had first visited the British Passport Services website.

b. I never received any emergency travel document card and do not even know what this is nor do I remember asking for one.

c. I had not received the 30 minute telephone consultation at this point, and never did receive such a call, merely the aforementioned call from a female making various threats.

d. 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.


17: I reported the call to the Action Fraud, where I was told not to make contact with them and received a National Reference Number Exhibit B

18: On the 17^th December 2014 a letter was sent out to my address which is an unpaid invoice and a copy of the agreement. It clearly states that I requested an appointment date for the 16^th May 2014 and my travel dates 25^th May 2014. The appointment made by British Passport Services was made for the 29^th May 2014 at 9.45am which would have been completely impossible for me to attend as I was not in the country. Exhibit C


19: I then received text messages from British Passport Services on the 24^th December 2014, 8^th January 2015, and the 22 January 2015 requesting payment Exhibit D.

20: In response to Exhibit F, it states that I, Linda Tomlinson, set them an Inbound Email with a charge of £5.00, which was not sent from myself. There are also charges for Emails sent to me which I never received.

21: On the 8th December 2014 I received a letter sent by Recorded delivery from BritishPassportServices (Exhibit E) signed by Charles Mercer headed 'Formal Notice of Intended Court Action Pre-Action Conduct Letter'. The letter stated that I owed £117.60 and contained a lot of material which appeared to be designed to intimidate me into making payment. This included a mocked up official looking Court Claim form.

22: At the beginning of March a Claim Form issued in the County Court Business Centre, dated 04^th March 2015 in the sum of £202.60 was received at my home address.

23: On the 31^st March 2015 I decided to contact HMPO and was advised to email there head office which would have a record of appointments made, which I did via email to Liverpool@ips.gsi.gov.uk Exhibit F.

24: They replied back to on the 1^st April saying they the could not find no trace of an appointment for my daughters passport renewal. Exhibit G

25: ON the 5^th May 2015 I received an email from Amanda Kirkman requesting I give her permission to contact HMPO as proof I did not have an appointment Exhibit H.

26: I replied back refusing then permission Exhibit I.

27. 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) (Exhibit J) 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.

28. That website is still live and at the time of the adjudication looked the same as the website BritishPassportServices (EXHIBIT I). The Claimant appealed the ASA Adjudication and asked for an independent review. On 1^st July 2015 the ASA published further findings following an appeal by the Claimant and the original adjudication was upheld (EXHIBIT J). I believe this demonstrates that the Claimant's website is misleading and it is that misrepresentation which led me into completing my personal details on an online form.

29. I also found further various online discussion forums such as Legal Beagles and Money Saving Expert and found reports by respected media establishments like BBC, Mail on Sunday, www.which.com and www.thisismoney.com.

30. It is my thoughts that the large number of people who are misunderstanding and complaining about this website clearly demonstrates that the website is very easy to misinterpret as the official HM Passport Office.

31. I also found that many other people have been threatened with, or received court papers from the Claimant. It appears many are paying when threatened with court action because they are afraid, do not have time or don’t understand that they can fight the case.

32. I am aware that the Claimant, despite having bought hundreds of claims against consumers since December 2014, has only attended one hearing. All of the Judgments listed on the Claimants website are either settled on receipt of the court papers or a default judgment is entered. I have attached a copy of a judgment in case B7QZ6275 at Cambridge County Court on 7th May 2015 before Deputy District Judge Raggett. (Exhibit L) The Judge found against the Claimant due to his website being misleading. I am aware of many further hearings where the Court found against the claimant, in similar circumstances, however the Claimant did not attend those hearings.

44. 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. Since receiving the first contact from British Passport Services 17^th December 2014, I have felt very stressed and the whole situation upsetting and unnecessarily time consuming.


Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.


Signed …………………………………………


Dated …………………………………………

[Amethyst]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

Just made a couple amendments ( post above) just to strengthen when you left the site ( para 9/10/11) and added the ASA adjudication bits on to the end. The extra exhibits are attached.

[lind01]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

Thank you so much

So I can take my WS by hand to the court today and do I now send it to BPS too?

Lx

[Amethyst]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

No worries, you did a good job Yes, you can post or email BPS a copy xx

[lind01]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

Sorry to be a pain, but do I send BPS all the same docs and exhibits tha I send to the court?

Just don't want to make any mistakes at this point and never had to do this before!!

Lx

[Amethyst]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

Yes, exactly the same bundle to the court and the claimant ... and keep a copy for yourself to take with you on the day.

[lind01]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

All done now!

Delivered WS to court by hand and sent Dickies one recorded delivery. So now just wait for the hearing 20th Aug.

[Amethyst]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

Perfect .... not too long a wait for you. Have you had the witness statement from the claimants yet ?

[lind01]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

Hi all

I've had 2 emails today from BPS, so I've forwarded them to your admin address.

Linda

[Amethyst]

Re: lind01 v BritishPassportServices - - DEFENCE sent - waiting court date

Thanks Lind - more or less over for you then You will have to check with the court after the weekend to check they have actually discontinued the claim, but sounds like you might have avoided the stress of court appearance


Ever amusing this email ... I'm sure he said he had been sacked last time he wrote this email ... will have to check.

My name is Adam Strong and I manage the team here at UK Services & Support Ltd. Ms Kirkman has forwarded me details about your complaint. I have now had a chance to speak with her and to Katie Smith who was assigned to your account.

After investigating the matter I can only apologize for the level of service that you have received from my staff and from the company. You should have received better from us and I can only apologize for the fact that you didnt. I am looking into issuing a formal reprimand against Katie Smith which could lead to a verbal warning of termination of Katie Smith's employment.

We are held to strict customer satisfaction and operation policies and can assure you that you have not received the quality of service that I would expect from my team. Your case will be brought up in a future team meeting as a case study on how we can improve our communication with customers and update internal protocols to help ensure that something like this does not happen again.

If you have any suggestions that you would like me to raise in this meeting I would certainly welcome them.

My humble apologies once again.

Kind Regards

Adam Strong
UK Services & Support
General Manager

This is the important one, he's even included his notice of discontinuance... but STILL check with the court on Monday...

After viewing your EXHIBIT G showing that there was no appointment on the Passport Office system (which we can only presume was an error at their end) we have as per our long standing policy decided to withdraw the claim against you. Confirmation of this can be found at: http://www.britishpassportservices.c...discontinuance (edited)

Kind Regards

Amanda Kirkman
UK Services & Support
Support Department

Congratulations