On twitter the same thing is being reported.

We attended Barkingside today to be told case adjourned. Why were we not informed?

My personal view is that if the CEO at HMCTS cant make staff contact solicitors to advise of last minute adjournments she should be replaced by someone who can.

I am aware that a similar situation happened at HCMC today (when Court was full to the brim with clients advocates and family) and where there were no lists or list callers and social distancing was not possible – many of whom were told to go home and one poor fella was sobbing because he couldn’t afford to come back next week!

HMCTS is not fit for purpose!

Keima Payton

Payton’s Solicitors

Suite 12 Temple Chambers

3 – 7 Temple Avenue

London

EC4Y 0HP

Tel: 02074051999

Mobile 07973256529

Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority – 272155

This email is confidential and may contain legally privileged information. It is intended for the exclusive use of the addressee named above. If you are not that person it may be unlawful for you to read, copy, distribute, disclose or otherwise use the information contained in it. If you have received it in error please notify us immediately by return email.

From: members@mail.lccsa.org.uk <members@mail.lccsa.org.uk> On Behalf Of Maggie Frame
Sent: 21 July 2020 14:02
To: members@mail.lccsa.org.uk
Cc: LCCSA <admin@lccsa.org.uk>
Subject: Issue arising- sudden court changes- recovery backlog

Dear all,

New problem emerging - the sudden change of court; no one being informed or only client being informed within days of hearing.

I notice many solicitors are now looking for cover for hearings which really should be dealt with remotely. They are not Trials or vulnerable individuals.

I am sure we are all exhausted by the recent months and it may be that members wish to return to attending court although there is a hint that this is more resignation than a desire to go back to court; evidenced by the fact that assistance is being requested to cover many matters.

Although this also may be caused by a sudden change in venue, or a sudden listing where solicitors are not being informed with enough time to organise their diary.

We have had at least 3 cases in the last week moved from Croydon Magistrates court and listed at Bromley in one instance and 2 at Lavender Hill.

The one at Bromley we were only informed by our client the day before but thankfully we were able to resolve this with the assistance of the legal advisor at Bromley Magistrates. In relation to the matters at Lavender Hill we only discovered this ,when we called the admin centre to check if there was a CVP link for one of the matters at Croydon and asking why we had not received a reply to our email in relation to this.

From this we discovered that another matter we believed was at Croydon Magistrates court had not only been moved to Lavender Hill but the day had been moved forward.

I wonder if others have had similar experiences and what the current view is?

I for one find this unacceptable; whoever is listing matters in this way is incompetent and should not hold the position.

In relation to the matters suddenly moved to Lavender Hill we are left with no option but to arrange cover for matters which are very simple and could be dealt with remotely or even by email; at a cost to our business. No one needs additional cost at this point.

One of our client’s is in custody but the other client is on bail, and knows nothing of his matters venue being changed, resides in Somerset and will have to make arrangements to attend Lavender Hill tomorrow.

It is very obvious that the courts never wanted to treat any court users properly and have simply been unable to deal with matters up to now and so now they are just moving cases and listing cases as they see fit. Frankly it begs the question, what is wrong with them?

The biggest issue here is that they will be expecting defendants to attend without even informing them their case has been moved.

I predict chaos and even more delay also unfair arrests of defendants who have warrants issued for their non attendance.

Its just been announced that the judiciary will get a pay rise. They have been protecting justice during this pandemic.

I am sure we are not the only ones experiencing this so just as at the start of the pandemic share your experiences so that something can be done about it.

Kind Regards

Margaret Frame

Brooke Lavington Law

Margaret Frame ( Partner )

Brooke Lavington Law

17 – 21 George Street

Croydon

Surrey

CR0 1LA

Telephone : 07939 088264

Email : maggie@brookelavingtonlaw.co.uk

Secure email : margaret.frame@bll.cjsm.net

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